So here's a cute story. When I got home from the Dr. Dog show on Saturday night,
I uploaded the videos I had of Gary and Natalie joining Dr. Dog on stage for two songs.
Because it was late and I was tired, I was having difficulty, and I simply uploaded them
titled, "June 23, 2018." I said to Gary, "Hey, it doesn't matter, these are my own
private videos, we know where to find them." But Gary was so cute, he was like a little
kid. "But if you don't put my name, how will other people find it?" I tried not to
smirk and didn't say what I was thinking ("What other people?"), took a deep breath,
and tried uploading them again so that this time, they could be properly labeled. I
saw that I did it correctly, so when it asked me to type in a label, I grinned and typed,
"Heart it Races...Dr. Dog featuring Gary Slick." I did the same thing with Natalie's
video. So imagine my shock and laughter when I saw the below article, a version
only contains both videos I uploaded, but also helped the writer identify Gary
and Natalie for the purpose of this article, and, take a look at the set list they
published, too :) So yeah, I got a big kick out of that.
Anyway, to say that Gary had a heart attack (of joy) when I showed this
article to him is putting it mildly. The WXPN version of this article contains
all of the videos plus some bonus clips. The version of Heart it Races that I
posted has the complete GARY! GARY! GARY! chants by the crowd at the
end, the other version they posted is a better quality video of Gary, taken from
the front, but it leaves out the ending :(.
r
PHOTOS: Dr. Dog with (Sandy) Alex G
and Natalie Prass at Festival Pier in Philadelphia, 06/23/18
Supporting the
April 27 release of the same name, the show was a 22-song,
career-spanning set with special guests joining them onstage through the night,
including Tom Kelly of Alex G’s band, Dr. Dog drummer Eric Slick’s
father Gary Slick on acoustic guitar, and Virginia singer/songwriter
Natalie Prass.
Highlights included set opener and quasi hit “Shadow People,”
Architecture In Helsinki cover “Heart It Races,” “Coming Ou
t of the Darkness” sung by Prass, and a raucous and jammy “Heavy Light,”
which closed the night that was later lit up by fireworks.
“Critical Equation” came out through We Buy Gold Records following a long break after
touring in support of 2016’s
“The Psychedelic Swamp” (born from a collaboration between
guitarist/singer Scott McMicken and bassist/singer Toby Leaman that predates Dr. Dog)
and the quiet release of
“Abandoned Mansion” nine months later.
“We were all really satisfied to close 14 years of history by finally revisiting
‘The Psychedelic Swamp’ and giving it our full attention,” McMicken said in
a
press release, “but I think stepping out of our natural evolution definitely taxed
us. We decided we should put ‘Abandoned Mansion’ out and just go our separate
ways for six or seven months.”
“We’d been touring and making records for our entire adult lives, and I think we just
needed to take a step back,” Leaman added. “It was important for all of us to figure
out if we were actually doing what we wanted to be doing, or if we were just letting
momentum carry us down this path we’d always been on.”
“I feel like I’m in a totally new band right now,” McMicken emphasized. “We had
to tear it apart in order to rebuild it.”
See NEPA Scene’s photos of Dr. Dog playing at The Fillmore in Philadelphia back in 2016
here.
Dr. Dog setlist, June 23, 2018, Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia:
Shadow People
Survive
Go Out Fighting
Lonesome
The Breeze
True Love (with Tom Kelly of (Sandy) Alex G
Heart Killer
Abandoned Mansion
Heart It Races (Architecture in Helsinki cover with Gary Slick)
Listening In
Buzzing in the Light
How Long Must I Wait?
These Days
Where’d All the Time Go?
Under the Wheels
That Old Black Hole
Army of Ancients
Jackie Wants a Black Eye
Encore:
Say Something
Coming Out of the Darkness (with Natalie Prass)
Nellie
Heavy Light