Wild Adriatic and Dirty Names
Bowery Electric
New York, NY
December 14

Dirty Names played to a packed room at Bowery Electric on Friday, December 14th. The openers, Wild Adriatic, started the night out with some funky guitar riffs and catchy beats setting the tone for the evening.

The soulful bluesy rock quartet broke out into catchy number, “Letter” with Travis Gray leading the group with pitch perfect falsetto vocals. For a 9 o’clock set on a Friday night, the room was reasonably crowded but there was a gap around the stage as the audience resisted dancing around to the high-energy songs and enchanting rapport between band members.

The band jammed back and forth with one another with bassist Rich Derbyshire hopping and dancing all over the stage. On “New Sun Rising” the passion and energy the band typically brings to the stage was especially evident as drummer Mateo Vosganion mouthed the lyrics to the entirety of the song while slamming on the cymbals.

The band treated the crowd to some new music that had more of a vintage sound but with even more soul and undeniable electric choruses than we’ve heard from them in the past. On the amped up and heartbreaking “Lion in its Cage,” guitarist Shane Gilman stood behind Derbyshire’s bass and fretted the bass line for him smiling out at the crowd.

The old school rock n’ roll foursome, Dirty Names, took the stage next and made the crowd move right up to the stage. They immediately broke out in wild energy on, “Don’t Try Making a Move” with animated facial expressions and sexual dance moves. The next song, “I Get By” had an irresistible 60’s rock vibe and lead singer, Harrison Cofer, threw his guitar around at the peninsula of the stage staring straight into the audience challenging anyone to look away.

“Mr, Satisfaction,” a new song, had team vocals and guitarist, Kit Whittacre, pointed his instrument from his crotch playing provocatively to the audience. Always a crowd pleaser, the band played “Salt Water Jackie” and the entire crowd was dancing wildly with girls grinding on one another or gyrating towards the stage. Harrison fell to the ground still strumming and then jumped out to the front of the stage, playing guitar between his legs.
“Cadillac” had the room throwing themselves around, and in coordination with the music, a couple began waltzing crazily around the room. Before exiting the stage Harrison kicked his pick off the stage into the onlookers.