Dr. Dog ended their early 2014 performance at Higher Ground the same way they kicked it off: pumping away as a unified sextet, seeming hell-bent on a mission. There’s no doubt the comfort level they developed with their repeated visits to Vermont inspired them to invite to the stage Queen City music-scene fixture, and Grace Potter guitarist, Bennie Yurco for “Easy Beat.” The Dog could afford that generosity of spirit, having sold out the larger of the two rooms at the venue for the first time, their previous appearances in the decidedly small Showcase Lounge with this same building in front of admittedly sparse audiences.
The Philadelphia-based band’s loyalty to the Green Mountain town is reciprocal and this mid-winter’s night wasn’t the first time a room was full of fans, familiar with the songs, singing and dancing along with the band. This was, however, the first time for an arc over the stage, holding a sparkly backdrop and a sign pointing to the group on the stage below it. Dr. Dog in their idiosyncratic DIY style, have come to create productions for their tours that allow them to present a show for their audiences that complements their collective personality and music that depicts their growth, almost as vividly as albums like Fate, Be the Void and the latest B-Room.
A fusion of the Beatles circa Abbey Road and the Band at Big Pink may seem an unlikely combination of style, but certain traits from those sources emerged as Dr. Dog strung suites of their songs, old and new, together over the course of the single 90-minute set. Mass vocal chorales as on “Ain’t It Strange,” were as often evident as the hard electric guitars while acoustic guitars like those on “Broken Heart” added to the density of the band’s stage sound, making it comparable to their studio recordings.
It wasn’t until late in the show, on “100 Years,” that the contrast in the vocal timbre and delivery of bassist Toby Lehman and guitarist Frank McElroy became such a ghostly counterpart to the soulful voices of Richard Manuel and Rick Danko; it wasn’t so much the two sounded like those members of that hallowed group that once backed Bob Dylan, but that the ache in their voices communicated the same depth of emotion. Though Dr. Dog has always worn their influences on their collective sleeve, they’ve never been so clearly developing a style of their own, rather than sounding like the sources of said style.
Audience sing-alongs happened early and often, but none was as clearly resonant as at the show’s conclusion during “Lonesome,” where the shared refrain was the sound of camaraderie lasting long after Dr. Dog left the stage and the Ballroom emptied out. “What does it take to be lonesome?…NOTHIN’ AT ALL!!” Lehman led the crowd and the irony of the shared moment was not only palpable, but perfectly kept with the wizened mindset of the band.
