Even though most people have never heard of a large number of bands I go see, I would be willing to bet a whole hell of a lot more people have never heard of Dogstar. Admittedly, I hadn’t heard of them all too long ago either.
There’s a reason for that. Dogstar is a band that started up the year I was born, then gave it up in the early 2000s. That was likely in the midst of superstar member, Keanu Reeves’ skyrocketing career in film. And now, for whatever reason, the guys have reunited and cranked out a new album in the meantime. Look out for a review on that later, but for now I’ll tell you what it was like seeing these guys in the flesh! Sure, the main reason for attending the show was to be in the same room as one of my celebrity crushes, but I can assure you if Dogstar were a country band I would for sure not be in attendance. Thank goodness they are a rock band. A little more on the mellow side, but not something I can’t enjoy or appreciate.
My friend and I chose to squeeze our way onto the floor when we got there, because why would we not try to get as close as humanly possible to Keanu Reeves without being crushed? The intention was not at all to stay there the whole time, but to just get a taste. In order to make that happen though, we did stand through opening act, Archer O, who, despite their name for whatever reason leading me to believe they were a “local” Ohio band, were actually some young California dudes. That makes much more sense. They were just fine. More of a purposely out of tune jam band, but their set certainly became better for me as it went on.
Luckily, there was a very short wait time in between acts and sooner rather than later Dogstar took the stage and opened with a super mid-tempo track. Not what I’m usually expecting at shows, but still, it was a good song and showcased everyone’s strengths. I do believe almost all of the songs played that evening were from the new record, Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees, which actually released that day! But, with a new record that only saw two singles get released, it means I didn’t know much of what I was hearing. Though the songs I was familiar with, “Breach” and “Glimmer,” sounded just like the recorded version, so kudos to them! The only other song I knew was an old one, “Halo,” though I only ever listened to a live version of it prior.
All in all, it was a good night and somewhat surreal at times. Keanu Reeves is both insanely cool and pretty dorky, so it was a shock sometimes remembering that’s why I was there. Aside from the music, the best and most unique thing I saw was a middle aged woman whip out a GALLON SIZED BAG of chocolate chip cookies. No clue how that didn’t get flagged at security…maybe they were hoping she’d share.