Gutter Twins

"An Evening with Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan"

Troubadour - February 10, 2009

Live Review by Alexis Roberts

Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan are currently known as the Gutter Twins but have previously been in bands such as The Afghan Whigs and The Screaming Trees. They have collaborated with so many other artists in the past that it’s getting pretty difficult to keep track of the many musical projects they have been a part of over the span of their careers.

Recently the two have been touring and releasing albums as the Gutter Twins, however when the opportunity to see “An evening With Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan” came along, it seemed like the perfect chance to see the duo play songs from their old catalogues of bands past.

As would have been assumed, the duo did play Gutter Twins songs in the beginning of their set. Early on they played "Idle Hands" and "God’s Children". The predominantly acoustic set showcased Dulli and Lanegan’s contrasting voices. They were accompanied only by their friend, Dave Rosser (a touring member of one of Dulli’s previous musical projects, Twilight Singers).

This all could have been seen by some as a duel between the two men, but they compliment each other quite nicely, even when performing songs that were strictly written by one or the other. Dulli’s voice is sharp and cuts like a knife, while Langean’s rumbles and sounds like impending doom. Lanegan wore his signature scowl for the entire evening and could still scare the pants off of just about anyone.

They covered much of their catalogues this particular night, but they didn’t give us what we would have expected. They didn’t play the most popular songs of their past musical projects, rather they played what seemed to be probably the songs they just felt like playing. Lanegan played a songs from his solo album, Dulli played "Summers Kiss" and "If I Were Going" (as opposed to playing more popular Afghan Whigs songs like "What Jail is Like" or "Debonair").

Dulli, who is famous for his interesting and punchy cover songs brought that side of his personality to the show as well. He and Lanegan did a duet of The Everly Brothers classic "All I have to do is Dream", and a bit to everyone’s surprise Lanegan did his take on Frank Sinatra’s "I Get a Kick out of You."

Petra Haden (a violinist who you may know best from her work with The Decemberists, or as the singer of That Dog) joined in and accompanied on the last few songs- adding her feminine mystique to the mix at a concert that was definitely heavy on the masculinity.

It could have been guessed that the show would have sold out completely. There was a lot of anticipation to see what exactly was going to be played and ultimately, a lot of satisfaction from diehard fans that had been waiting awhile to hear some of these songs played live.