Dragonette

Dragonette

March 21, 2008

Commodore Ballroom

Dragonette = electronic, synth-pop laced with blunt, cheeky lyrics, backed by catchy beats, done right. Hailed as the next big thing, the blatant, fun, sexy, quintet known as Dragonette kicked off their Canadian tour in Vancouver Friday night.   

Lead singer and lyricist Martina Sorbara traded in her folk driven acoustic guitar past, what bassist Dan Kurtz affectionately refers to as “tampon music”, for a dirty, hook heavy, honest, pop band. The two started making music in their basement before recruiting drummer Joel Stouffer and guitarist Will Stapleton on board.

Supporting acts Piper Davis and Sweet Thing opened the show but the real dance party began as soon as Dragonette walked on stage. Piper Davis lacked any kind of stage presence or crowd interaction, disappearing onstage as she quickly flew through her set.  Sweet Thing were pretty entertaining and effective in getting the audience to clap along to their upbeat set.

A plain backdrop with the word Dragonette boldly printed three times across dropped down and bright colorful lights started flashing as Martina, Dan, Joel, and Will walked onstage. With charming confidence the band opened their set with the track “Jesus Doesn’t Love Me”. Sorbara strutted and danced along to tracks like “Competition”, “True Believer”, and “Take it Like a Man”. 

Dragonette also played a few new tracks off their upcoming album, which apparently weren’t rehearsed too well. Midway through one track, Martina asked to stop, admitting they’d messed up somewhere, but it went undetected by the audience who were just happy to hear new tracks. After a brief deliberation onstage on whether they should scrap the track all together, the band kicked into it once again. 

The bands best track was the crowd-pleasing single about a one-night stand, “I Get Around”. As soon as the familiar intro blasted from the speakers just about everybody on the dance floor let loose. Thanking the crowd for being a great audience, the band waved goodbye leaving the audience wanting more. 

Dragonette returned to play yet another track about hooking up “Get Lucky”, and closed their set with a cover of Wolfmother’s hit single “Woman”.  Dragonette’s lively show and provocative allure drag audiences in and yet there’s definitely substance behind the shiny image.

Not only do Dragonette have an ‘80s inspired sound infused into their music, as a few members in the audience took it upon themselves to show up decked out in 80’s attire, but the best way to describe the pop band is simply, fun. Almost everyone on the floor was singing along and dancing to the music all night.  Sorbara’s sweet bubble gum voice backed with synthesers is a perfect blend; a love match of pop meets techno with a hint of sex appeal.