Some gigs you go hoping for your favourite songs; some gigs you go knowing you’ll just be spending time in the company of a consummate professional who’ll just entertain you with whatever songs they choose to play. Dean Wareham, formerly frontman of both Galaxie 500 and Luna, more recently co-front-person of Dean & Britta, a sort of symphonic pop outfit with his missus Britta Phillips, and now a solo artist, falls into this latter category.
Taking the stage at Band on the Wall in red jeans and what you might call a country shirt, Dean and Britta gently amble through a selection of songs from his latest album ‘That’s the Price of Loving Me’ (“What is the price of loving me?” Dean asks the crowd at one point; “Long van journeys,” Britta taunts). These range from slow burners like gig opener ‘New World Julie’ (very much in the Luna mode) to shimmery pop artefacts that recall nothing quite so much as what The National might sound like if they’d made their name in LA rather than New York (see ‘Yesterday’s Hero’).
We also get plenty of Galaxie 500 tunes (you can’t quite say he plays all the hits but he plays all of the songs a crowd of Galaxie 500 fans would want – we’re talking ‘When Will You Come Home?’, ‘Flowers’ and ‘Fourth of July’ among others). We’re also treated to what is becoming something of a Manchester tradition in the shape of the Dean and Britta take on New Order’s ‘Ceremony’ which goes down a treat. He might not play your favourite (for me, anything off Luna’s ‘Bewitched’ album) – but it’s always a pleasure to have a night out in the company of Dean Wareham.
Words by Pete Wild
Picky Bastards 