Dax Riggs brought his solo show to Denver for two shows at the Larimer Lounge on Friday and Saturday. Shown here on Friday, Riggs played a lively set that fell short of high expectations. Photos by Reverb contributor .
“I am … already dead.”
Dax Riggs cut a towering figure on the stage, but it was impossible to make out any facial expressions or specific details of his tall and lean frame. As he boarded the Larimer Lounge stage on Friday night with his guitar and a single bandmate at his side, he readjusted a wayward pink spotlight at the rear of the stage to backlight him — and to blind the sizable crowd assembled to see the man behind the defunct band Deadboy & the Elephantmen.
It was an uncomfortable turning of the tables — illuminating the audience — but when Riggs set into the Deadboy favorite “Stop, I’m Already Dead,” all was forgotten. As Riggs played a sped-up version of the garage rock rager — a song that eloquently displays his rough yet soulful baritone — you felt the energy in the room.
It was massive and real. Fans were there for Riggs’ music and to hear his voice again, some for the first time in a live arena. Riggs, playing the first of two nights at the Denver rock club, is touring behind a brilliant solo record. And the excitement — sometimes disguised as stupid, smelly drunkenness from a certain contingent — was the kind you can only feel at a stripped-down rock show.
Unfortunately the set that followed didn’t match the intensity of the room.
The show sounded a lot like the old Deadboy gigs — two people, guitar and drums, with Riggs on the mic. The material on Riggs’ solo debut, “We Sing of Only Blood or Love,” often mirrors the songs off Deadboy’s “We Are Night Sky.”
But whereas Riggs was darkly charismatic while touring Deadboy, he seemed a more difficult connection this time around.
He taunted the crowd a little. After a couple songs with the intense backlight, Riggs finally gave into the shouts of, “Kill the f—ing sun!,” and he turned the light down toward the floor … only to lift it back up a couple songs later. The set was disjointed. After a strong start — including a luminous “Living is Suicide,” the undeniable pinnacle of “Blood or Love” — the set dropped into a funk of cranky, fuzzed-out garage rock.
Fans lost interest during the mid-set slumber, but Riggs won them back over before the nightap end. He threw down one or two more Deadboy tracks, but he left out the record-defining ballad “No Rainbows,” which was a sad oversight.
There were brilliant moments, of course. “Forgot I Was Alive” showed Riggs leaning toward a poppier style of songwriter a la Spoon — and the combination of his gravelly voice and the bright, power-pop melodies was a potent slap on the backside. His cover of Richard Thompson’s “Wall of Death” was both fiery and eloquent. And a new song, “13 Cannot Be Divided,” proved that he has many more beautiful rock ballads in him. (See the very end of this post for video of Riggs playing “13 Cannot Be Divided” at a show in Nashville earlier this month.)
But it was tough to not be disappointed that Riggs didn’t take better advantage of his full repertoire to create an unstoppable set list that would have better showcased his mournful songs and his expressive voice.
More of photos:
Ricardo Baca is The Denver Post’s pop music critic.
Riggs in Nashville playing “13 Cannot Be Divided:”
