In fact few in the crowd seemed familiar with the band’s music, whether current or catalog. But that didn’t stop the group from earning rapturous applause after each and every number. Drummer Will Rigby<\/strong> \u2013 an astonishingly forceful and steady drummer; more so even than the records would suggest \u2013 took the spotlight for his own \u201cWrite Back,\u201d a highlight of the consistently excellent Falling Off the Sky<\/em>.<\/p>\n The stomping \u201cThat Time is Gone\u201d got a highly charged reading, and throughout the evening Holsapple and Stamey took turns at lead guitar. It was remarkable to see and hear the difference between this show and a set I attended a few years ago during the tour promoting the Holsapple\/Stamey hERE aND nOW<\/em><\/a> album; all of the subtlety of that tour remained, but The dB’s delivered it and backed it up with a clear rock’n’roll punch.<\/p>\n The band-plus-horns closed with what Holsapple called their \u201chit in Philadelphia,\u201d the upbeat \u201cThe Wonder of Love.\u201d Likely owing to the restrictions of the venue (and the lateness of the hour), there was no encore. I later learned that the band did a previously-unannounced set the following afternoon.<\/p>\n Even if this show had been just-okay, it would have made my entire trip to Raleigh worthwhile; as it was, Holsapple told me afterward that it had been one of the band’s best shows.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/hopscotch_dbs2.jpg\")
Guitarists Peter Holsapple<\/strong> and Chris Stamey<\/strong> led the band through a set that showcased roughly half of the songs from their latest album, Falling Off the Sky<\/em><\/a> (a strong contender for Musoscribe’s Best Album of 2012), but they also dug deep into their back catalog. Introducing \u201cLove is For Lovers\u201d off of 1984’s Like This<\/em> (an album from the era during which Stamey was no longer in the group), Peter asked the audience, \u201cYou do<\/em> have this album, right?\u201d (Generally stony silence was the reply, but I<\/em> have a copy.) They also thrilled hardcore fans by pulling out what Stamey described as “a song from our first set list,” the late 70s underground powerpop classic “(I Thought) You Wanted to Know.” If you closed your eyes, it was ’78 again.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/hopscotch_dbs1.jpg\")
Gene Holder<\/strong> (or, as one online commenter ironically dubbed him, \u201cSmilin’ Gene\u201d) held down a solid bass line throughout the evening, and actually did let slip a broad grin (in response to an off-mic comment from Holsapple) at one point during the set. An auxiliary keyboardist added some texture, and helped re-create some of the more involved arrangements from the new album’s songs. Toward the end of the set, a brass trio came onstage adding \u2013 at various points \u2013 flute, trombone, saxophone and trumpet. Their presence allowed the dB’s to faithfully recreate the prog-epic of Stamey’s \u201cThe Adventures of Albatross and Doggerel,\u201d and Rigby’s psychedelic drum fills on the song evoked sonic images of 1967.<\/p>\n
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