The Dwarves -- Fuck You Up and Get Live

So I'm listening to a lot of Dwarves lately. A lot. Come Clean, How to Win Friends, Must Die, Are Young and Good Looking. Sure, it's all Dwarves of the past ten years, Dwarves that sound like the Ramones, but I think this stuff is aces. Maybe not as mean-spirited or blatantly misogynist as the Dwarves of yesteryear, but them studio knob-twiddlings make these pop furies sound so good.


To go along with the band's kinder and gentler recorded sound is a kinder and gentler live show. Whereas internet legend has led me to believe that early early 90's performances were ten minute sets of thievery and bloodshed, the Dwarves shows of 2004 are apparently tame affairs. They last 30 minutes(!) and no one gets in a fight. Singin' man Blag Dahlia doesn't even give us clever raps, only a "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...fuck yeah" between every single goddamn song, and the bassist looks like a tennis pro. At least resurrected guitarist (and assuredly insane motherfucker) He Who Cannot Be Named still wears a speedo and lucha libre mask. Yes, these Dwarves hardly fuck(ed) me up when they got live, but I still really liked the setlist.

The interesting sidenote to all of this is that I actually saw the Dwarves in October of '04 so chances are I saw an exact replica of this Fuck You Up show. I wish I could reminisce more, but I honestly only went to the gig to catch the Cruel Romeos.