Review: Dustbowl Revival Brings the House Down at the Edison Again!

The Edison is one of my favorite venues in Los Angeles. Built in the remains of a 1910 electrical generator station, this is one of the most unique bars I have ever been to! And unbelievably, there is no cover charge!

So, I was pretty excited when I found out that one of my favorite bands, The Dustbowl Revival was scheduled to play there on Thursday, October 9th, 2014. LA Weekly named them “the best live band in LA in 2013”. Not just best live Swing or Jazz or Blues band, but “best live band”, period! That means they beat out hundreds of other rock, heavy metal, etc. bands in the Southland area! I invited all of my Facebook friends who I thought would be even remotely interested in going!

I arrived just as the band started playing. The place was packed, because there happened to be two Meetup.com groups there that night. Curiously, I didn’t see a whole lot of Swing dancers there. A few people tried to dance in the mosh-pit-like conditions. Much of the usual dance space in front of the stage was taken up by non dancers.

It remained like this for a few more songs. Although the music was fantastic, I began to get worried that I might have to write off the night as far as dancing was concerned.

Slowly, however, more dancers showed up. We also carved out some dance space to the right of the stage, in front of the smaller bar. This allowed people to watch the band while we had some good dance space.

By the second and third sets, the area of the floor to the right of the stage was packed with Swing dancers! I ended up meeting quite a few folks who I had never danced with before, which was great! It wasn’t the usual crowd that I was accustomed to dancing with, but I had a blast.

Of course, Dustbowl Revival were amazing and in top form. I didn’t want to stay out too late, but I found myself unable to leave!

Many of the songs were ultra-fast, “barn-dance” sort of tunes. I danced these in half time, which I think worked out better than trying to do East Coast or even Balboa to these insanely fast songs.

For their last song, they announced that they were coming down from the stage to do a jam session on the floor, as they often do. They performed one of their signature songs, “Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well?” in the middle of the floor while everyone clapped. I’ve never seen a crowd at the Edison that excited.

So, next time the Dustbowl Revival plays at the Edison, check them out! They did a great show last August as well. Unfortunately, Dustbowl are not scheduled to play at the Edison next month, but I’m hoping they’ll be back soon, and they have a few other gigs in L.A. that I’ll post on the Lindy Calendar.

The fact that The Edison doesn’t charge cover is amazing.  Please buy a drink or have dinner there to support live music! See you next time!  – Brian