The Bell House only enlisted two acts for this past Friday night’s bill, yet it was enough to fill the Gowanus performance space to capacity.

Between Two Trees – Lady Lamb The Beekeeper Between Two Trees – Lady Lamb The Beekeeper (Free Download / Buy)

The first and only opening act was Lady Lamb and the Beekeeper (aka Aly Spaltro).  She utilized both banjo and guitar while playing songs from her recently released collection of songs, Mammoth Swoon. Alone on stage with her instruments and low lighting, she gave a heartfelt performance. Spaltro’s voice has an amazing mix of rock with soul; smooth in quiet moments and then gritty and powerful in others.  Her great vocal range combined with her descriptive storytelling made her performance intriguing.   It was unfortunate that some of the most tender musical moments were overpowered by the talkative audience at the elevated Bell House bar.  Lady Lamb closed with “Crane Your Neck”, which even caught the attention of the talkative bar patrons. Despite the noise, Lady Lamb left those who were actually trying to listen wanting more.  Those in the first five imaginary rows were the most attentive and impressed with her performance, and will most likely be the ones to see her again (click for her tour dates).

The night’s headliners Evan Dando (of the Lemonheads) and Juliana Hatfield shared the stage and created a vibe similar to days when MTV actually played music and produced MTV Unplugged. Dando and Hatfield decided to perform acoustic versions to all of their songs; each taking turns performing. Dando’s songs had loud sing-a-long response from the crowd while Hatfield’s songs made the couples in the room hold each other closer and gaze in each others eyes with tipsy smiles. The Dando effect was preferred. Juliana did notice the difference and admitted she had an inferiority complex as a result. With that, Evan responded that “paranoia and self esteem are odd bedfellows.” The crowd laughed a little and pondered on his statement while they continued with their set.

Evan and Juliana playing their songs in such a stripped down format made it easier to appreciate why they’re such amazing songwriters. Dando played such Lemonhead hits as “All My Life,” “Bit Part”, and “It’s About Time”, while Hatfield mixed her old with the new with such songs as “Butterflies,” “Choose Drugs,” and “Evan”. Both of their many songs had the common themes of love, drugs, and regret. There were a few false starts and chord fumbles with songs the crowd requested. Juliana even admitted her and Evan were still trying to figure things out with regards to their show. But the fans didn’t really seem to care, welcomed the mistakes, and just accepted it as part of the live experience.

The duo’s songs made the crowd nostalgic and brought them back to their high school and mostly college days of the 90s. People left trying to recall when and where they first heard Dando’s and Hatfield’s songs and others expressed the need to see them perform again. The night of three talented singer songwriters proved to be the right number of performers for all at The Bell House.

————————————————————————

Lady Lamb The Beekeeper photo courtesy of Khristy Dietz

Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield photo courtesy of Live Buzz