Dr. Dog – Live At The Flamingo Hotel

Seven studio albums into their career and Dr. Dog has finally released their first live album. The generously packed nineteen-song set, Live At The Flamingo Hotel, brings the band’s rich back catalogue to life on stage in indiscriminate order. It’s a celebration of the psychedelic indie troupe’s various milestones and even an acknowledgement of some less referenced gems. As with all live offerings, success comes down to a combination of song selection and performance quality.  Dr. Dog does an admirable job of both.

Opting to wait sixteen years to release their first live album means that the band knows most of these songs inside and out. Fan favourites like “That Old Black Hole” capture the lively indie-pop deliverance that the sextet has become known for in recent years, thriving off the expansive, oh-so-cool percussive quavering of various shakers and hand claps. You can practically feel the rhythm that must have lit up the Flamingo Hotel stage as the band methodically rocks out in the iconic guitar closer of “Heart It Races.” Meanwhile, the lead in to the smoky lounger “The Beach” fits so tightly that listeners will be hard pressed to compartmentalize Live At The Flamingo Hotel into albums and eras. In this regard, the band’s career continuity pays off. Even the jazzy, mostly instrumental jam piece “Say Ahhh,” originally from their first full length, fits like a glove alongside the more contemporary, hook heavy “Jackie Wants A Black Eye,” from their ANTI- debut.

As with all Dr. Dog albums, Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken share vocal duties, both translating well from the studio to the stage, adding a little more edge in the process. Opening on the shared note of “These Days,” the two come across refreshingly looser outside of the studio. The occasional raspy pop or crackle finds its way to the surface, meshing well with the more hectic tone of songs like “Worst Trip” in a live setting.

Long time Dr. Dog listeners will appreciate the effortless flow running through Live At The Flamingo Hotel. The band amalgamates just the right combination of songs from various vectors of their career, highlighting the strengths that have made for a prolific existence. At one hour and thirty minutes the performance is a long one. But whether you sit through the set in a single sitting or pause for an intermission, Dr. Dog absolutely entertains from start to finish – exactly what you’d want in a live offering.