“The first time we played Outside Lands was three years ago on the panhandle stage,” said Taylor Goldsmith, lead vocalist of the L.A.-based indie band Dawes, before ascending the steps to the Sutro stage on Sunday, August 11. This year, after a summer tour of 21 shows with Bob Dylan, Dawes’ slot at Golden Gate Park had them playing just before Willie Nelson. Backstage at the festival, Taylor, joined by his brother Griffin, who is the band’s drummer, bassist Wylie Gelber, and keyboardist Tay Strathairn, reflected on the Dylan mystique. “The tour we just played was the first tour of Dylan’s in 27 years that he did the same set each night. He played ‘Soon After Midnight,’ from his new record, and ‘Visions of Johanna.’ I love those songs, I can listen to them every night.” Taylor confirmed that Dylan behaved as billed. He’s just Dylan, no on-stage and off-stage split persona. He doesn’t talk, he doesn’t sound check; he’s onstage and then goes back to the bus after he performs. “But,” Taylor said, “On the last evening of the last show he told us, ‘You guys are great, thanks for being here.’”

Though Dawes recorded their latest album, Stories Don’t End, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the band still calls L.A. home. The Goldsmith brothers have lived in Glendale and Malibu, Gelber grew up in Pacific Palisades and Strathairn is from upstate New York’s Hudson Valley. Taylor read Joan Didion’s novel Democracy before he started writing the album, and the Sacramento-born writer’s work inspired its title.

Fittingly, the band opened its Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival set with “From a Window Seat” from Stories Don’t End, just streets away from the Haight, a neighborhood that Didion memorably chronicled in one of her essays in Slouching Toward Bethlehem. After the band finished playing “When My Time Comes,” halfway through their set, Taylor praised the audience for its part in the spontaneous group sing-along to the folky song from the band’s debut album. “Nice work everybody,” he said before introducing the band members.

By Elizabeth Varnell

Setlist:
“From a Window Seat”
“If I Wanted Someone”
“Most People”
“Fire Away”
“When My Times Comes”
“Peace in the Valley”
“Time Spent in Los Angeles”
“From the Right Angle”

Pictured: Taylor Goldsmith, Wylie Gelber, Tay Strathairn and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes at Outside Lands.
Photo by Mor Weizman

 

Email This To A Friend