The scene at the High Noon Saloon on Wednesday evening did not accurately represent the typical mid-week sentiment of Madison, Wisconsin. As venue staff tried in vain to replenish the vanishing supply of tall boys, an early-to-arrive crowd projected a weekend atmosphere upon the stage. Thirsty fans were rewarded for their promptness by the magnificent voice of Caroline Smith. Opening the show with her band The Goodnight Sleeps, the native Minnesotan looked comfortable in front of the sold out crowd.
The young foursome knew to focus on their greatest strength — the talented vocals of Smith. With the other three band members crammed into the right corner of the stage, all eyes were on Caroline, and the laid back acoustic feel to the set allowed her voice to stand out with even more prominence. Trading in her guitar for a banjo on their final song “Strong Shoulders,” the folk quartet ended with a fun sound. The song smartly included a short breakdown, once again shining the spotlight on Smith’s mature and soothing voice.
A PR man and a nice bass line then announced Dawes’ arrival.
Taylor Goldsmith hopped on stage shortly after the brief intro and soon let loose his own powerful vocals. The Los Angeles group did well selecting an opener that prepped Madison for an impressive vocally-dominated night while also making Dawes’ electric rock ‘n’ roll seem to jump out at you just a little more. Revving up the energy with a call and response portion of “How Far We’ve Come” only led to more crowd interaction as numerous fans were more than happy to announce their knowledge and approval of the lyrics to “When My Time Comes,” and did so without invitation. Goldsmith was kind enough to notice and extend the invitation by pointing his microphone toward the crowd, thereby submitting to the loudest of the many sing-along choruses.
During a show dominated by vocal performances — including many nice additions and harmonies from Taylor’s brother Griffin on drums — there was a lot to be said about Dawes’ musical talent. Rarely breaking between songs of decent length kept the evening going and led to numerous short but sweet solos. Most of which taken by Goldsmith himself, but one each by Griffin and keyboardist Tay Strathairn during the longest jam of the night in “Peace in the Valley” left the Saloon wanting more.
On tour for roughly two more weeks before returning to the studio to record their third full-length album, Dawes experimented late in the show with a couple new songs. At that point there wasn’t much they could’ve done to stain the mood, yet “From a Window Seat” was clearly a song to keep tabs on. Described by Goldsmith as “a song about sitting on a plane and you get the fear,” the slightly more up-tempo rhythm exploded into a quick, electric solo at its midpoint and kept a beat more suitable for dancing than most Dawes tracks.
A two-song encore wrapped up the night, and some of the best were certainly saved for last. “Time Spent in Los Angeles,” the first and one of the most popular from 2011 album Nothing is Wrong, rewarded the Wednesday warriors with yet another singalong. Wrapping up the evening with the lyrically rich “A Little Bit of Everything” was a fitting night-cap, as the track also concludes Dawes’ most recent LP to date.
Driven by the vocals of Caroline Smith and Taylor Goldsmith, Madison was treated to a mid-week party and reminded how fun a well run folk-rock concert can be.