When a group of friends come together after nearly twenty years it usually is a reunion people have been waiting for. In case you, of course, know then band. And in case not… you are in for one hell of a surprise.
Have you heard about the Dogstar? Don’t worry, almost no one ever seems to have. One of the better hidden Hollywood secrets, this trio consists of Bret Domrose on vocals and guitar, Rob Mailhouse on drums and none other than the action hero Keanu Reeves on bass. People generally don’t know the band, but famous name between them or not, their music is pretty damn good. Seems like they like to keep it nice and small, which, in the end, is what makes it quite special.
Ever since discovering Dogstar I only wondered if making a new album and crossing the big pond to Europe will be in their future plans. Or whether they will just keep themselves enclosed in the US and just jam in their living rooms together. But when an Instagram post appeared with simple “We’re back.” headline, I was beyond excited. Something Between The Palm Trees and Power Lines is first music they put out in over two decades and after touring the States and Japan, the band came to pay a visit to old good Europe. It took them almost a full month of concerts and festival shows, but band made it to Italy in the end. Playing no other than one of the amazingly beautiful, and with great acoustics on top of that, outdoor venues Europe has to offer – Castillo di Udine.
Unlike most of the other non-festival shows, this time the band had no support act and it was fully seated. The clearly excited audience and the band had to wait a few extra minutes to make sure no one missed beginning of the show, since the castle itself is on quite a steep hill. But once everyone was ready, the band took the stage waving to the fans and first tones of Blonde echoed through the castle grounds.
From the first moment you can see Keanu is definitely not in the spotlight here. You are not watching a movie star and some strange guys playing some tones, but more like perfectly synced trio fully submerged in the moment. Those three friends enjoying making music and having a great time on the stage projected it with everything they had to the crowd and it was definitely returned.
Ditching their twenty year old songs they filled the setlist almost to the rim with their new stuff. A slight bit of disappointment run through me not hearing any of the good old stuff like Halo or Flowers. But nevertheless, it didn’t make it less exciting. Especially in the castle grounds songs like Glimmer or Dillon Street really shined, while the sound of Rob’s harmonica echoed throughout the space.
On the other hand, we got to hear a few new songs the band has been working on like Math, Shallow Easy or Out Of. Those being more on the dynamic side of the spectrum it seemed they fit the vocal range and the overall feel of the band way better. Not to mention they sound live way more energic than most of their current album. The different voice position of the yet to be released songs definitely fits Bret better than most of the high parts where he tends to struggle sometimes a little bit.
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The main part of the show ended with Breach featuring a little bass solo from Keanu. A little excited kid that can play his favourite instrument and not mind anyone else. You could just feel how deep in the moment he was. Not only during the solo, but basically through the whole set. Jumping up and down from time to time added to the overall excitement that was pouring from the band towards the audience. But of course by the end the band left the stage for a short while and came back for the encores. The concert classic – which band doesn’t do it these days? And as excited as everyone was, suddenly a fully seated show was a standing one with people singing along and rocking the whole castle. Especially nice touch were two covers – The Cure and Ramones. But with Jackbox, another new song, the show unfortunately came to a final end. The band waved their goodbyes, threw some picks and with no huffs and puffs left the stage. And so did the audience. But definitely not disappointed in the slightest bit.
The zen feel radiating from the guys, the energy that they enveloped the whole castle grounds with was what left the place and the people still buzzing with huge smiles on their faces. So if you ever want to enjoy a great show and get to know a new-old band, just remember the name now. Dogstar.
