Three hour tour

It’s always worth checking out two nights of Dogs at the same venue. You can feel the band settle into the space and make it their own, and friendships develop amongst the Pound members that hit both (shoutout to Rob, who slept in his van to catch each night). You also always know you’re going to get four sets without repeats, so they’re good trips for those chasing the rarities you’ve missed live over the years. The next night has the more consistent show and the highest peak, but this one’s got the best set.

Freshly frustrated after missing the date-shifted night at the Fox, my partner and I checked the weather report, booked a hotel, and cut out of work early on Friday to make the 3-hour trek to Steamboat. It’s not the hardest drive from Denver—you get to cruise for an hour on I-70 before the windier stretches of CO-9 and US-40 get you to the promised land. Still, it’s Colorado in the “spring,” which still means you need to be on the lookout for freak winter storms (the Dogs will tell you themselves that the trek out of Steamboat last time didn’t go so hot). My RWD barely got me there, and it was good we left early—the snow started falling towards the end of our drive.

OTP acts as a restaurant during the day and a live music space/bar at night, and the owner is a big fan of the band (these two shows were booked after a great night on 3/30). When we arrived in town around 7, we headed straight to the venue, only to learn that dinner hours would continue until 9. We stuck around, grabbed some food, and noticed the staff clearing out the music space an hour & change later. The Dogs soundchecked a jam while the remainder of the restaurant’s patrons listened on in the bar, separated only by an incomplete wall. This show wasn’t announced as a sell-out—more than a few punters showed-up around 8 to grab dinner and tix after a day on the slopes.

The gig was originally billed as an “Under the Covers” night—the band announced when booking the show that they would be playing only covers, and encouraged concertgoers to dress in pajamas (Jerm was the only band member to participate). At some point before the show, they called an audible and decided to thread their own tunes in the mix (great choice).

First Set. TD2 is a warm-up, but they’re ready by the end of Voodoo. Jimmy’s tone on Dupree’s is sublime. Jerm recaps the setlist for the latecomers before a solid Boogie On>Fenway. There’s a few miscommunications during the early portions of the lone debut of the show, but Jerm still delivers a great synth+keys solo in Bennie. The x-factor emerges for a monster G Song before gliding effortlessly into the 2nd-ever Eastbound, a few vocal mishaps aside. Jimmy calls out the merch booth before Jerm starts a unique jam leading into a deliciously-dark Spun (you have to check the end of the previous track on the SBD to hear it all) that closes out the set.

Second Set. It’s after midnight (the show started a bit after 10 local), which means two things: it’s now tax day, and it’s Mr. Murray’s Birthday. Most of the crowd—not me—was still getting beer on the other side of the wall when the band came out, hence Jerm’s light hazing. Brian teases Money as Jerm regales him with Happy Birthday to You. The ensuing 90-plus minutes is a must-listen. The way they destroy Money for Nothing, leaving no survivors. You would never know it had been shelved since the turn of the decade. Time Stands Still hits just right before falling into a rippin’ After Midnight. There’s an extended intro for Jack&Coke because Sam’s mic wasn’t working, forcing him to piggyback off Jimmy’s. The outro jam goes into deep space and ends up in the first Too High in over three years. It’s the set’s “weakest” point (relative, it’s still solid and worth the listen for its rarity) and the main course is still to come. The transition between Time Loves and Charlie is exceptional, and the latter reaches an ecstatic peak before an In the Hall of the Mountain King jam arrives at Bucket and returns home. They debuted this cover nine days prior in Denver, and went on to play it the next week at their first Cali show—this is my fave of the six in ‘23 and the only 1 fully sandwiched by Charlie. The whole ending sequence matches up evenly with the other major Charlie of this tour on 4/7. The first Walkin’ On The Sun encore eva has a unique start, but this Trunk pales in comparison to 4/5.

1st Set: 5/10

2nd Set: 9/10

Overall: 4 stars.

Highlights:

Dupree’s Diamond Blues - Jimmy takes the wheel

G Song - exhaustive

Spun - spooky

Entire second set - in my regular listening rotation

Sources: The mic levels for Jeremy (too high) and Brian (too low) don’t sound quite right to me on the board, but it’s only really a problem when they attempt to harmonize on Eastbound. 2 of the 3 nights in Steamboat are on YouTube in full, except this one.