Dynamite, wrapped up in a candy wrapper. This to me, best describes the experience of a Golden Dogs show in a succinct, one sentence, under 10 word manner. The Golden Dogs moved into London, Ontario Thursday evening for their first performance in almost 2 years, promoting their new album, Big Eye, Little Eye, which many critics are calling the band's coming of age. With balls-out rockers like Dynamo, the Tom Waits inspired Saints at the Gates, ballads like Theresa and a bang-on cover of Mc Cartney and Wings 1985 , it is hard not to agree. Although, in my opinion, it is not quite a kick in the head initially as Everything in 3 Parts was for me, especially without a Yeah! anthem, like most "mature" albums, they are a slow burn to full appreciation, and after 3 listens....I'm getting it, and lovin' it! Not that the basic concept the Golden Dogs has changed in any way, they are still creating catchy simple, easy to digest and almost immediately likeable songs and keeping them in the 3 minute range, so they can be force fed to you in a live show, in a barrage of machine gun fire, so fast and with so much pure raw energy that the live show will leave you wondering exactly what just hit you. Like a cliff hanger of a movie, the show never lets up, never lets you down and when it is over, you just want more (Like their songs, the show is by format, an hour, almost to the clock and there are no spaces, even between the final song and the encore...there isn't one). 2007 is being hailed "The Year of the Golden Dogs" by UofW press and "The Golden Era" for the band by The Toronto Star, but this is nothing new. The Dogs have been hyped right from the get go as the next big thing on the Canadian music scene and still haven't hit the big time. That being said, the first Call the Office show I went to in 2005, you could of shot a rocket off in the place and this time the place was a relatively full bar and the people who where there where getting into it with the intensity of the songs Dave Azzolini, Jessica Grassia et al where blasting from the stage....so maybe this is it. It really doesn't matter that much, because it will happen, but in the meantime, get out and see The Golden Dogs live and see one of the best fucking live experiences you can get for 5 bucks anywhere.

http://www.thegoldendogs.com/

What others are sayin':

http://www.thestar.com/artsentertainment/article/176398

http://www.gazette.uwo.ca/article.cfm?section=Arts&articleID=1529&month=01&day=31&year=2007