• Newsletter Sign up
• Subscribe
• Back Issues
• Sample Issue
• Contact Us

DKT/MC5

From page 109 of Classic Rock Magazine September 2004

Cover of September 2004 issue.

Bowery Ballroom, New York City

It’s been more than 30 years since legendary Detroit proto-punk/rockers the MC5 got the US establishment’s blood boiling with their incendiary rock’n’roll invective, and now they’re back in business. So tonight, brothers and sisters, are you ready to testify? Well, that all depends on which MC5 is your MC5. Given that each of the band’s three studio releases are markedly distinct, tonight’s performance is more ‘High Times’ than ‘Kick Out The Jams’ – less high-energy rock’n’roll, and more lowenergy rock/blues jam.

More accurately described as The MC3, tonight’s show is a curiously low-key affair in a half-empty Bowery Ballroom on a hot New York City summer night. Billed as DKT/MC5, the line-up is Michael Davis on bass, Wayne Kramer on guitar and Dennis Thompson on drums, with an assortment of guest vocalists. Stellar vocals from Mudhoney’s Mark Arm on standouts like ‘Starship’ and ‘Sister Anne’ provided the focus that was disastrously absent in the strung-out Evan Dando. His vocal approximations rendered songs like ‘High School’ barelyrecognisable. Dick Manitoba of The Dictators put in a cheeky appearance on ‘Call Me Animal’, while guest guitarist Marshall Crenshaw and his Fender were lightweight substitutes for Fred Smith and his supersonic Mosrite sound. They played the best of The MC5’s back catalogue, but the signature overdriven twin-guitar sonic attack of the original line-up was notably absent. The biggest handicap of the night, though, was Dando, whose appearance prompted beer throwing at both NYC shows. As one audience member put it (loudly): "Kick him out of the band, motherfucker." Exactly.

Julie Cunnah