S.Lo on July 15th, 2019

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That Dog fans who may not have packed into a sweaty DIY space in a couple decades got a taste (or rather, scent) of nostalgia on Saturday night. On one of the hottest weekends of the year so far, frontwoman/guitarist Anna Waronker greeted all at the Smell by saying, “We’re bringing it back to the same ground where we started… sharing the same Smell together.”

Welcoming reinforcements Allison Crutchfield (of P.S. Eliot and Swearin’) on backing vocals and Kaitlin Wolfberg on violin, Waronker, bassist Rachel Haden, drummer Tony Maxwell and new guitarist Cliff Walsh ripped through the second of two back-to-back shows to celebrate the 25th anniversary deluxe reissue of their self-titled debut full-length, which includes four non-album tracks.

Conserving oxygen and sustaining the existing air quality, no one moshed, but all were bouncy as the band beamed through their eternally unique, harmonic, hook-filled grunge.

Waronker was frank with the audience after warming up the crowd with “Old Timer.” “So we’re just gonna play the album straight to finish and you’ll get some chitter-chatter,” she said. And after asking how many were also there for the earlier show that night (several hands rose in the capacity crowd), she revealed they’d add in some extra treats.

A very rare one was the band playing the original version of “Raina.” “These songs we did, I think we were 19 when we wrote them. We didn’t know about publishing and used Beatles lyrics and had to change them,” introduced Waronker before the band launched into a delightful re-interpretive medley of well-known lines penned by Lennon and McCartney (the latter playing just a mile away at Dodger Stadium that same evening).

The sound bleed from the disco-banda bar next door added to the early-days nostalgia of the evening. Waronker quipped, “This is an emotional song. We have to be louder than them,” leading into “You Are Here.” 

While head-banging in place, all were thoughtful and appreciative that these songs were from earlier days when women’s voices were finally breaking through in the U.S. rock scene, with songs like “She” (“She is given no choice / She conquers and can’t rejoice / She is given no choice / She is beautiful”) centering a young woman’s perspective contemplating the oppression of another.

At the encore, the band premiered a brand new song, “If You Just Didn’t Do It,” announcing that a new album is in the works.

The late-show audience members were also treated to bonus encore songs, “He’s Kissing Christian” and “Minneapolis,” Waronker dedicating the former “… to my friend Christian, who is still here. He wasn’t born yet when I wrote it but it has his name in it.”

Graham Coxon (of Blur) opened with a short but sweet six-song set, accompanying himself on an acoustic guitar and loops, delighting the audience with songs such as “Sorrow’s Army,” “Walking All Day,” “Angry Me” (from the “End of the F***ing World” soundtrack penned by Coxon), “All Over Me” and Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” (the latter inciting an excited “Woo-hoo” from the crowd).

Setlist: Old Timer, Jump, Raina, You Are Here, Just Like Me, She, Angel, Westside Angst, She Looks At Me, Punk Rock Girl, Zodiac, Family Functions, Paid Programming, This Boy. Encore: Grunge Couple, If You Just Didn’t Do It. Second show encore bonus: He’s Kissing Christian, Minneapolis