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Words and photos by Dod Morrison
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The Lemonheads are American rock band formed in Boston USA in 1986 by Evan Dando and others, with Evans being the bands only constant member.
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The band recorded 4 studio albums before the 1992 “Shame about Ray” which originally did not include the hit cover version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” but they added it on later pressings after it became a worldwide hit. The title track of the album was apparently inspired by a quote in a Sydney newspaper about a kid called Ray who kept getting kicked out of schools. The album became an international hit reaching No 31 in the UK charts.
30 Years on they are doing a tour to celebrate this album by playing the album in its entirety.
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First up was Bass Drum Of Death from Mississippi who brought their Garage punk style to the proceedings. They warmed the crowd up nicely for the main act.
The lights were dim and you could hardly see the stage when a figure appeared in, what I think was, a Kaftan and a pair of Dr Marten boots. Looking rugged and cool it was of course Evan. Suddenly women started shouting from the crowd “welcome to Scotland” and “we love you Evan”.
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With an acoustic guitar in hand, he started to do an acoustic set of several songs with the crowd singing along to them all. The band then joined him stage and they tore through “it’s a shame about Ray” in less than 30 minutes in order of the album listing, so the title song was played early in the set.
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The band hadn’t played Aberdeen since 2007 and the sold out crowd were in party mood. “Alison’s Starting to Happen” had the best sing along. but surprisingly there was no “Mrs. Robinson”.
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At one point band leave so Evan can take the spotlight for some more acoustic tunes. The band then rejoin him and do some back catalogue songs including “Hospital” then some more acoustic songs including “Big Gay Heart” and “Style”. Somehow it all seems a bit disjointed, as if it shouldn’t work, but it did.
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After the show Evan stood outside with the fans chatting, signing their items and posing for selfies with them. A perfect end to a most excellent evening.
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