The Dirty Blondes At Red Square Friday July 27, 2012

Words by Tim Lewis.

My Monday, your Friday was a long day at work. I got out, ate a bite and was ready to head to Red Square for The Dirty Blondes. The opening ceremony for the Olympics was on and pretty spectacular. The band was to go on at 9, and at 8:30 or so, Mike Oldfield hit the London stage to play Tubular Bells live. Cool! The kids going to dreamland and the giant monsters were a great visual for Mike and his band. They wrapped up just about 8:40, my deadline to head out the door. Anything on video is cool. Something live will never happen again.

I made quick work of the walk and slid into Red Square. I was going to try a Fiddlehead, but the keg ran dry, so I went back to the familiar Switchback. The band in the middle was just tearing down, so I found a nook and waited. I said Hi to Diane and Becky at different times, but soon enough, t was time to rock.

The stage in the alley had a full row of chairs on the right, and full tables on the left. The place was full all the way back to Church st. A few of us hardy souls crowded to the front and the band hit the stage with a roar. There was an extra guitar player with them, making two guitars, bass, drums, and two blonde singers. Becky and Diane were sporting Olympic medals and they kicked into Crybaby. They were loud and ferocious as they tore through the set. The sound was not overly clear, but blisteringly loud. The vocals were buried a bit, except for the song Eric sang, that were almost non-existent. They got a bit better at the end, but hey, what are you going to do. It wasn’t perfect, but they rocked all of the classics to the bone. We did the Kung Pao. We celebrated with Hallelujah. We rocked to the bone with Burn, Easy Rider, and the oft requested by Becky, Whore. At one point Diane tossed boxes of sparklers to us. We held the lights high as the band pummeled us with the set. They went through the litany of drummers who will never be the drummer for The Dirty Blondes, on the brilliant Ornan’s Song. Oh Dirty Blondes was sweet as always. We danced, we screamed the lyrics, and great fun was had by all. Towards the end, Diane tossed medals to the crowd, and the band wrapped it up with Drunk. It was about an hour of pure furious fun.

I took the closest door, swung up Church st, and headed for home. My Tuesday, your Saturday called.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.