Dance Hall throws party at Palace

Dance Hall Crashers performs to a young crowd in Hollywood Friday

BY MIKE DUTRA
Music Editor

Dance Hall Crashers played a tight set of slyly sardonic, up-tempo ska-punk songs to a packed but largely underage crowd at the Palace in Hollywood on Friday night.

DHC abandoned many of its slower ska songs, focusing on a much more punk-oriented approach, following the trend on its most recent album, Purr. But the band retained its fun side by throwing out vinyl copies of Purr into the audience, and charismatic frontwomen Elyse Rogers and Karina Denike kept the crowd entertained between songs.

The vocal interplay between Rogers and Denike is what anchors DHC, as their weaving harmonies keep the songs from sounding alike or breaking down, a common problem for many ska-punk groups. In fact, it almost happened mid-set as DHC lost its bass for a couple of songs due to technical problems, but Rogers and Denike picked up the slack while bassist Mikey Weiss repaired his instrument.

DHC played a good mixture of songs, concentrating mostly on its last three albums - Purr, Lockjaw, and Honey, I'm Homely - for the 70 minute set, as well as a couple of songs from The Old Record, DHC's debut effort.

Besides playing such familiar fan favorites as "Shelley," "Lost Again," and a more explicit version of "Enough," DHC played some of the quicker songs from Purr, including the hilarious "Cat Fight" and "Make Her Purr."

The highlight of the evening came during the encore, as Rogers and Denike, accompanied only by guitarist Jason Hammon, debuted the new B-side "Nothing Else Matters at All," a marvelously delicate ballad which contrasted with the rest of DHC's quicker material. And as usual, Dance Hall Crashers ended the show with the rousing sing-along "DHC," which had the entire crowd jumping up and down.

There is no doubt that DHC is one of the most engaging and fun ska-punk acts around, mostly because of the group's ability to feed off the crowd's energy and create a party atmosphere.

Copyright 1999 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 138, No. 14 (Monday, September 20, 1999), on page 7.