Dum Dum Girls + MINKS + Dirty Beaches at Empty Bottle: Live review + photo gallery

When Dum Dum Girls took the stage—legs wrapped in black lace—shortly after 11:30pm last night, frontwoman Dee Dee humbly exclaimed, “We didn’t expect this many people to be here!”  Joined up by Brooklyn’s Minks and Dirty Beaches from Vancouver, the foursome kicked off their first U.S. tour earlier month to support their new EP, He Gets Me High (out via Sub Pop next week). Dum Dum Girls sold out the Chicago venue and had it brimming with black leather jackets and goth hairdos.

Before blasting open their Empty Bottle set with a sultry cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Play with Fire” she said of the opening acts, “Those were my 2 favorite bands…I hope you enjoyed them.” Alex Hungtai is the one-man guitar and crooner performing as Dirty Beaches, with his first full-length LP Badlands coming out next month. He started the night off at 9:40pm with a swagger that put the hip back in hipster, combing his hair like a psychobilly greaser between his songs, tunes that droned like Suicide live tracks. Hungtai played a short set featuring a cover of Johnny Cash’s “The Singer” (which is also covered by Nick Cave), dedicating it to Trish Keenan of British electronic band Broadcast, who passed away this year.

Up next were 6-piece band Minks, who transported the crowd to the U.K. era of C86 bands (the goths standing to the front of the stage were flown in from the same era). The band played stunning highlights like the single “Funeral Song” from their first LP, this year’s By the Hedge, and everything from songwriter Sean Kilfoyle’s murmuring vocals to the cooing female harmonies by the Nicoesque (sans bangs) tambourine-playing singer contributed to the indie pop bliss. But the high-register jangling lead guitar stole the show, driving the bright major toned melodies on the set’s best songs, “Cemetery Rain” and “Ophelia.” Aside from being Dee Dee’s favorite current bands, the two acts were perfect openers for a band like Dum Dum Girls, equally soaked in nostalgia.

The headliners played hits like “Jail La La” and “Bhang Bhang” from their I Will Be LP, and the clamoring “Catholicked” off one of their early releases. The four girls were harmonizing gothic sirens, transmuting ‘60s girl group conventions through languid stares and an imperial, fuzzing rhythm section. The biggest delight in their set was seeing Dee Dee raw and expressive in a live setting, adding miniature snarls to some of her vocals on lines like “My baby’s better than you” on “Everybody’s Out.” She even played a brand new song, a crooning ballad called “Teardrops” (“I wrote it today,” she said). The band previewed the new EP in full, saving the very daring Smiths cover “There Is A Light” for their closing track, bookending the set with devoted cover songs.