By Erin Wade–

There is nothing more refreshing than watching a guy with a comb-over pogo. Only the Lemonheads are capable of making such a magical occurrence happen, and that is exactly what they did on March 5 at Headliner’s Music Hall.
Evan Dando, the lead singer, caused a stir when he walked out amongst the crowd before the show started. I suppose he thought we wouldn’t notice him, but he quickly retreated and emerged later, cleverly disguised in a cap and backpack. Sneaky, sneaky Dando.
To give them due credit, the opening band – Deer Meet – was the actual one to commence the pogoing and it only elevated with performances by Meredith Sheldon, who has quite a voice, with her band and Fred Mascherino of The Color Fred. And yes, that is Fred Mascherino, former member of the band Taking Back Sunday.
The Lemonheads, essentially just Evan Dando now, were accompanied by Fred Mascherino on bass. Not only did they have people with comb-overs pogoing, they also had some fist pumping and pretty solid boogying going on by “The Great Big No.” Dando soon got into his solo acoustic set and took little time getting to crowd favorites “Into Your Arms” and “Being Around.” It warms the heart that, even after 19 years, loyal fans can still sing along to “If I was a booger would you blow your nose? Where would you keep it? Would you eat it? I’m just trying to give myself a reason for being around.”
After his acoustic set, a round of encore clapping brought him back with his band and a guy named Chris. Chris replaced Dando as the vocalist for a song. He later returned with Dando and Mascherino to end the night with “Style,” another track off of The Lemonheads’ 1993 album, “Come On Feel.”
Unfortunately, Dando didn’t seem terribly happy to be playing the show that night. The “thank you’s” he gave after every song came out rather apathetic sounding. Although they got a little more enthusiastic as he continued playing, there was still a bit of a lull throughout the whole performance. But the crowd was still considerably happy at the end of the night and it can’t be denied that only a band like the Lemonheads can get people still rocking leather pants and comb-overs, having a good time jamming out to some ‘90s tunage.

Photo courtesy Taang Records