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Dr. Dog & Deer Tick @ Terminal 5 – May 15

If I was forced into seeing one concert, and one concert only in 2010, I may very well have picked the double-bill of Dr. Dog and Deer Tick that took place at Terminal 5 in NYC last month. I’ve repeatedly championed these two acts, not only for their stellar studio work, but also for putting on great live shows – albeit with quite different approaches. Both bands, who had been on the road together for several weeks, pulled into the spacious venue located on a desolate industrial stretch of Manhattan’s Upper West Side for a sold-out, tour-ending show that saw both bands expressing their affinity for each other throughout the evening’s festivities.

[All Photos By Jeremy Gordon]

Sporting their finest sundresses for the occasion, the boys of Deer Tick ambled onto the stage to the strains of Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York. The group’s always entertaining frontman John McCauley crooned the last few bars and greeted the rapidly filling venue by declaring the band Dr. Dog’s prom dates for the night before launching into the winding guitar intro of Easy. McCauley & Co., who will release their third studio album The Black Dirt Sessions next Tuesday and are primed for a breakout year of their own, managed to turn a truncated 45-minute set into a free-wheeling showcase of their boozy, country-infused, folk-rock.

READ ON for more on Jeff’s thoughts on the night…