New York Dolls at the Belly Up! Keith Boyd 5.21.9
What is Rock and Roll? Is it the three chord stompers that Elvis bequeathed to us for the past fifty years? Is it a look? A drug? A style? I guess there are as many answers to that question as there are people you’d care to ask. For me the ultimate reply is that I may not know what it is but I know it when I see it and tonight …I SAW IT!The New York Dolls are such an unlikely comeback story. To think that years ago they were sweating away in clubs laying down the blueprint for Punk, Glam and sleazy Metal (think Hanoi Rocks, Guns-n-Roses, etc.) to a largely uncaring public and now thirty plus years later can pick it up from where they left off and go is mind boggling.

The show tonight at The Belly Up was enjoyable and inspiring. The band members won the crowd over the instant they walked on stage and then just kept lathering on the charm throughout the whole set. Drawing on songs both old and new the show was an equal blend of rockers (Jet Boy, Personality Crisis) and heartfelt ballads (Temptation To Exist, You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory) that felt so balanced, supple and tight you couldn’t help but smile.

The all women openers The Cliks played a blazingly heavy (and loud-ouch!) variety of Rock. While their chops were definitely in place and their approach was intense it lacked a little too much in the hook department for me to get too into it. It turns out that their drummer, Morgan Doctor, is a former member of San Diego groundbreaking legends Chinchilla. Perhaps if The Cliks can start drawing on the same deep well of creativity that made Chinchilla so vital and fresh they will stick around for a while. (editors note: Morgan Doctor also played with locals Contra Guera and on early Maquiladora records)

Really though the night belonged to The Dolls. The tawdry sweetness that signifies their sound wrapped around the crowd and worked them into a frenzy. That sound is a juggernaut made of equal parts Blues, Doo-Wop, 60’s Girl Group, Stones and T-Rex Poptastic Rave ups. The Belly Up provided a perfectly intimate setting to watch this show. The amazing sound system of the club delivered a wonderful balance and fullness that the band themselves commented on and relished.

So after it was all done we were left with that exquisitely spent feeling of having been witness to something great. It’s a wonderful thing to see the Dolls in 2009 still kicking out the jams and moving it. Rock and Roll is nothing if not a feeling and attitude. The New York Dolls know this and delivered it tonight in spades.