It was a fun night with some great music as Dogstar rolled into Raleigh on Friday, August 7th. The Ritz was pretty packed as over a thousand people came out to support the band on their All In Now tour, named after their latest studio album, All In Now. The band played this same venue just a couple years ago after releasing its first album in over twenty years, Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees, and it was clear that fans were eager to welcome them back.
Bret Domrose leads the band with vocals and guitar and sounds exactly like he does on the albums. And though not an album release show, they did perform all of the songs from All In Now. Robert Mailhouse looked to be having the time of his life on the drums. It can often feel like the drummers are hidden in a live performance; they’re set farther back on the stage and are overshadowed by elaborate setups. This wasn’t the case for Dogstar though. There was no elaborate stage setup and the stripped-down setting allowed for Rob to be seen as well as heard.
And then there is bassist Keanu Reeves. Yes, that Keanu Reeves. There were more than a few people in attendance for the experience of seeing a movie star off the screen, as evidenced by the numerous “We love you Keanu!” screams in between songs. But this wasn’t an ego-driven performance at all. Quite the contrary; if not for the screams and the fact that most attendees have watched Keanu on screen for the better part of the last 40 years, you’d never know that it was a Hollywood movie star on stage. Keanu is unassuming and not pretentious in the least. He mostly sticks to one side of the stage, Bret sticking to the other, and really enjoys the groove in every song. At times he and Bret join together in front of Rob for playful interaction, and his performance seemed to become more expressive as the night went on.
This was a killer performance by three bandmates who appear to be great friends up there having a great time. They played like a well-oiled machine. And though their set seemed on the shorter side, they packed in a lot of great music. One of the highlights of the night was the band’s performance of “Glimmer”, off 2023’s …Power Lines and Palm Trees. The tempo slowed for this song, and the way the lights rolled over the audience and the stage gave the illusion of sparkles. Bret’s vocals really shined during this song, and Keanu stood back by Rob’s drum kit while their backing supported the song in the best way possible. “Glimmer” was almost hypnotic, and if you looked amongst the crowd, you could even see someone holding up an actual lighter like we used to do all those years ago. As the song finished, the whole crowd erupted with cheers for an incredible performance.
Opening the shows on this tour is The Backfires, self-described as a “rock band from both sides of the Atlantic”. The band is no stranger to the area, but mentioned that the last time they were in Raleigh they played at Pour House for “about 15 people”. They were super gracious to Dogstar for having them on tour and their skills and performance definitely showed why they were picked. They’re a relatively new band in relation to how long Dogstar has been together, but you’d never know by watching them perform. The Backfires released their newest album, Stardust, on the day of this show, and clearly made some new fans during this performance.
Dogstar and The Backfires are just getting started on this tour and have nearly 30 more dates to go across the US and Canada before it wraps up at the beginning of October.
Review & pix by I’m Music Magazine Photographer/Music Journalist KT Lafferty
DOGSTAR
THE BACKFIRES
