In Which The Dears Give Seattle the Silent Treatment

Dear Dears, is it something we said? Did we not return your phone calls? Did we spill a drink on your favorite shoes? Because we really don't understand why you would play a set without acknowledging your audience unless we had personally offended you in some way.

Sure, because of the weather, Neumo's last night was pretty damn empty, but the fans who were there were enthusiastic, so the lack of interaction was that much more frustrating. The Canadian sextet took the stage to the mellow strains of "Sinthro," the instrumental track that kicks off their latest release Gang of Losers, before launching directly into the upbeat "Ticket to Immortality" [YouTube], which just so happens to be the next song on the CD. The set was divided into thirds: the first third was all tracks from the new album, the second was songs from the last album (we had forgotten all the awesome over-the-topness of "Lost in the Plot" [mp3]), and the third was back to the new stuff. The show ended two songs early—at least according to the setlist—with the only words spoken to the audience all evening: "That's all you're going to get from us tonight. We're the Dears. Goodnight. Go home."

It was about four songs into the performance when we first realized they hadn't yet addressed the crowd. No "Hellooooo Seattle!" to start the show, no "Thanks" after a song, nothing. Lead singer/so-called "Black Morrissey" Murray Lightburn was wearing a jaunty red neckerchief and the rest of the band seemed to be in high spirits, but there was no recognition that they were playing to an audience, nor any response to applause or cheers. A few people in the crowd attempted to engage the band. There were shouts of "Murray!" and a couple "Hey, how's it going?", but it was all for naught. One guy in the crowd had bought a Corona for Murray, and when he tried to hand it off to him at the end of the show, even that didn't work. Not even beer could break through The Dears' steely resolve. We don't know what's up with that (just a bad day? inter-band tensions? Cat Power-like flu?), but it certainly wasn't appreciated. Next time we're in Montreal, don't be surprised if we walk past Murray and company without so much as a "Sups."

Photo care of Flickr / user ma-me.