What’s in a name? That which we call Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. by any other name would be just as sweet live.
If you missed out on the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. concert on Saturday simply by virtue of their name, you should go ahead and concede that you made a mistake. Admittedly, I had put off listening to the band for similar reasons. “ACK! Hipster hooligans!,“ I would think to myself while sitting in my cold lair of judgment. “There’s no way that a band that wears neon patchwork blazers on stage could possibly take themselves seriously enough to make quality music!” So when I finally got off my judgment throne to listen to their 2010 Horse Power EP a few months ago, regret over not having listened to them much sooner flooded me as their playful, overwhelmingly catchy harmonies filled my ears.
Still, when the rubber stamp marked my entry at the High Noon’s doors I considered myself to be a Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. novice, having just as much knowledge of the Detroit natives as I did of the eponymous NASCAR racer. What I knew of them led me to believe that they were going to be a goofy band that rock a few enchanting pop songs on stage before calling it a night. I can admit that I was wrong twice over.
It was evident from the start that Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. demand to be taken seriously as performers. A few words to the audience told us that they had decided to take a detour to come through Madison last-minute, and they thanked the few of us who had amassed in front of the stage for making it out to the show. This was no easy feat considering the recent Badgers defeat against Ohio State. Though spirits were low, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. managed to make everyone dance almost instantly with their opening songs, as the exposed lightbulbs behind them blinked along to the rhythms they created. It wasn’t until they broke out “Simple Girl” — the first song written by frontmen Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein — that they were able to pry almost all the lead feet off the floor. If that wasn’t enough for the remaining few who remained standing rock still, the bubble machines flanking the stage began to spew out a dizzying bloom of bubbles over the audience and suddenly everyone was busting bubbles as they shook their hips to the “ba-da-ba”s coming from on high.
At one point, the band cooled the crowd down with a slow cover of Broken Social Scene’s “Cause=Time” before interrupting themselves halfway through with one of their own fast-paced energetic gems that seamlessly blended electronica with pop riffs and Beach Boys-esque harmonies. The band did everything they could to engender a sense of togetherness with the crowd, from inviting their former drummer (now a member of the band Jamaican Queens, who had played in Madison at The Frequency earlier that evening) onstage to play drums with them to emphatically urging people to singalong to one of their songs. In keeping with their dedication of creating an aesthetic out of being simultaneously playful and serious, cute and colorful animations of robots, marching soldiers, and exploding airplanes were projected on a giant orb towering above them as they played. Towards the end of their show, Epstein busted out a saxophone, which only contributed to the night’s theme — and the band’s overall aim — of catching us all by surprise and dashing our expectations time and time again (all while making us dance our asses off).
After the show I approached Zott and complimented him for putting so much concentrated effort into a great live show from start to finish. Zott looked at me earnestly, curly ponytail peaking higher than the Himalayas, and said with notes of agreement in his voice, “We try really fucking hard.”