THE DIRTBOMBS at the Horseshoe, Friday, July 15. Rating: NNN
Since kickstarting the Detroit garage rock scene in the 90s, Mick Collins has earned the right to do pretty much whatever he wants.
He and his Dirtbombs exercised that right at the Horseshoe, spending the first half of their set reprising Party Store, their out-of-nowhere album of classic techno covers.
Hearing those retro-futuristic synthetic compositions recreated on rock instruments is an interesting novelty, but the repetitive groove-based structure turned taxing in a live setting, especially as some songs plodded past the 8 minute mark.
The guitarists looked to be having fun filling spaces with droney psychedelic noise-rock passages (creating a rare genre-splice that probably hasn’t been done yet), but the two drummers looked progressively more bored as the excursion progressed.
As unique as that experiment was, the audience came alive once the band segued into its party-rock guise. And the Dirtbombs reflected that energy, even sending one drummer into the crowd for the blowout encore. It almost felt like two performances.
