The Dirty Thirds are one of the tightest cover bands around. They are also one of the most entertaining. Playing at the Village Square in Hampstead, New Hampshire last night, this four piece put on an action packed show.
Not only do the Dirty 3rds play some classic hits from the 1970s and 1980s to the hilt, they have an impressive light show. They have spinning light balls and several multi-color things going on at once. Their band logo is in lights on each side of the stage and both keep flashing through out the show.
Lead singer Dara Cassidy is a spunky singer, complete with sexy rocker chick outfit and choreographed dance moves. She is not a belter, but she can bring a respectable rasp to rock, roots, and blues tunes like the best of them. The other band members only go by their first names.
“Hard To Handle” as done by The Black Crowes and “Sweet Child” by Guns And Roses displayed the guitar talents of George, and, when they went into their third song, “I Want You To Want Me,” by Cheap Trick, they had several people on the dance floor. The Cheap Trick song found guitar, bass, and drums slamming it home.
The Journey song “Stone In Love” was where the music started sounding better than the vocals because Cassidy’s voice started to sound lower in the mix than the guitars. She held her own, but it wasn’t until someone told her to turn up her microphone that she took the proper front person’s command of the music.
“Jealous Again,” by The Black Crowes, let bass boy Ian showoff some fine vocal work and guitarist George handled the rhythmic phrases well. It was when the band slowed it down a little with Susan Tedeschi’s “Hurt So Bad” that Cassidy could showssome muscle in her voice. Her solid rasp made the sound this time around in this guitar powered ballad and drummer Rick really moved the song along.
The Sublime tune “Santeria” showed off the bassist and drummer ability to provide the necessary rhythmic thumb for this piece of funk, and, Tom Petty’s “American Girl” showcased Cassidy’s ability to ride along an upbeat melody that moves quick as a snake. Moving on to “Me And Bobby Magee,” a song that usually comes later in the show for most bands, Cassidy’s rasp fit in well with this roots piece and she nailed the rapid ending and guitarist George nailed that mash of blues, country, and everything else at the end.
The Dirty 3rds got their crowd dancing to “Some Kind Of Wonderful” and really rocked their fans with Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” with lead guitarist George hitting the phrase just right and the rhythm section giving it that burst of oomph.
Cassidy donned a dark fedora hat and one sparkled silver glove to perform a very lively version of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” The highlight of the set, “Beat It” showed how well she can dance and she aced the vocal part. The band had all the rock elements down pat and George had the Eddie Van Halen guitar solo down pat. A schedule that Cassidy gave out showed 20 gigs between now and early July, and last night’s entertainment proved that they are a band that will always have a full schedule. Dirty 3rds plays out a lot in the Lawrence area to the beach and up into Maine.
www.thedirty3rds.com
