On Thursday night, Toronto was treated to an intimate evening with Dreamcar at the Phoenix Concert Theatre.
For those of you unaware of the powerhouse that is Dreamcar, they are a new supergroup comprised of Tony Kanal (bass), Tom Dumont (guitar), and Adrian Young (drums) of No Doubt along with Davey Havok of AFI on vocals. If you attended this show expecting to see No Doubt 2.0 with some kind of hardcore punk twist, you’d be in for a surprise as Dreamcar sounds heavily influenced by 80’s music with a refreshing and distinctive twist.
The band kicked off their Canadian debut with their opening track After I Confessed, before playing through the majority of their newly released self-titled album and even throwing in a couple of cover songs. It was truly a unique experience to finally hear these songs live and to top it off, the stage presence of the band was completely off the charts. Young was seen getting lost in the music behind his drum kit, as Kanal and Dumont constantly wore genuine smiles through out the night while helping to lay down the foundation of the songs. As someone who has attended multiple AFI and Blaqk Audio shows, I’m very much aware of Havok’s stage presence. It’s as if he takes each project, embodies the music, and then creates a whole new stage presence reflecting the songs he has helped to create. It was interesting to see how Dreamcar’s music translated, and it was a lot more playful than I was used to seeing from him- which was something I thoroughly enjoyed. Watching all four members interact with each other on stage you could instantly see that they were all having a blast. If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that they were a newly formed band as they had this special spark that made it feel like they’ve been performing together for years prior. Their set flew by, and when the night started to come to a close, the band was met with roars of approval from the crowd as songs such as All of the Dead Girls and Kill For Candy made an appearance.
After a night of dancing and singing along, it was clear that everyone attending this show was fortunate to catch Dreamcar at such an intimate venue. I am for certain that the next time they are here, they will be headlining bigger shows and taking the world by storm.
