Fine and Dandy after all this time

The Dandy Warhols, Club Academy, Manchester
MOST know The Dandy Warhols for the song used on a mobile phone advert — “Bohemian Like You”.

The Oregon rock stalwarts release their eighth studio album today after touring for nearly two decades.

Their escape from urban Bohemia was hugely contributed to by the power pop hit of 2002 — but this band are so much more than one-hit wonders.

The genre-dipping rockers nodded to country, grudge and garage rock at Club Academy, but surprise of the gig was the showcase of their new album — “This Machine” — which verges on gothic and electronica.

As acts like Pavement and Counting Crows, who flew the Yankee alternative rock flag in the mid-Nineties, eventually fell away, The Dandy Warhols remained, still striving to produce fresh material.

Their singles have been more popular over these shores than across the Atlantic, with eight top-40 UK chart hits to their name. All were performed to the great delight of the UK faithful, with an acoustic version of “Everyday Should Be a Holiday”, by frontman and Kurt Cobain lookalike Courtney Taylor-Taylor.

Their albums are not as groundbreaking as Nirvana’s “Nevermind”, but there is a refreshing warmth from a band trying their dammest to make their music into an art form.