The Dandy Warhols were the main act last night (Sept. 12) at Chicago’s Vic Theatre, but the main attraction for me was opening act Darker My Love. I did like some of the early records by the Dandy Warhols, but I haven’t kept up with what they’ve done the last several years, and their newest record, Earth to Dandy Warhols, hasn’t impressed me too much so far. I could see at last night’s packed show that the band certainly has some fervent fans. I liked what I heard at times, including some of those old songs and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time.” The newer songs were bland or occasionally even annoying, as far as I was concerned.
Darker My Love was another story. Their new album, 2, is a really top-notch set of catchy, fuzzy tunes. This band’s not too far from the realms of drony garage rock and psychedelic bands like the Black Angels, all of it springing out of old Velvet Underground records, of course. They played an excellent set last night, with lots of sweet tunefulness in the vocals and some crunchy bite in the guitar chords. The first band of the night, the Upsidedown, also played a pretty decent set of music in a similar vein.