Dragonette (Photo by Mackenzie Duncan)
If your goal was to let loose and enjoy a night on the town before Thanksgiving since you were still in DC anyway, you could have done no better than to start famously at the U Street Music Hall.
Martina Sorbara and Dan Kurtz, of Dragonette, were on hand to make you dance, in every way possible. With Dan’s keyboards and Martina’s golden voice, they electrified the crowd with a frenzy of their songs played to match the DJ-inspired venue, as house and club beats.
Dragonette hails from Toronto originally, and also includes Joel Stouffer on the drums.
Let’s call much of the crowd’s response to their infectious songs, the ‘super dance’, bouncing up and down in unison.
The crowd grew to a respectable size (almost full), given that you might expect many potential revelers to be out of town for the holiday.
Dragonette kicked off with their new single, “Let the Night Fall”, which perfectly matched the theme of letting loose. As Martina says, “No matter what, we’re not stopping now, let the night fall.”
They then played the recently released “Outlines”, followed by the first song I ever heard by Dragonette, “Pick Up the Phone”. Later, I would experience many more of their early songs/videos, most notably during Liberation Dance Party at DC9.
Many of their videos feature Martina with short-cropped hair, so it was a bit of a pleasant surprise to see her with long, wavy hair (as per the photo). I suppose that doesn’t really matter musically, except to say I like her with long hair…don’t go back.
Dragonette has made a good career out of song collaborations with other artists like Martin Solveig and Kaskade. They played a healthy number of collaborations and a couple covers (of Galantis). “Easy”, a collaboration with Martin Solveig, is a more subdued, slow build that especially highlights Martina’s vocal range. It’s about being loyal in a relationship, even in the face of the other person not respecting that. “It’s easy, hard as it looks.”
They came back for “Live In This City” as the encore, which was the required bookend to this show about having fun, and the best way to leave on a high note for the next adventure on tap for the evening, “cause this city can’t live without me.”
It’s quite possible you regret not dancing with Dragonette live, but they are releasing a new album in 2016, and will certainly find a way to tour and hopefully come back to DC. Don’t miss it if the chance comes again.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca_W2FajtUQ&w=560&h=315]