Next time, they might want to squeeze in a few more rehearsals, something even they admitted to, frequently, during the sometimes sloppy yet scruffily endearing 85-minute performance. At one point Dando quipped, “I’m trying to bring unprofessionalism back to rock ’n’ roll.’’
On that score he succeeded. But slickness is overrated, and whether it was a missed chord here or a futile search for the right harmony there, the show exuded a warm intimacy that helped mitigate the missteps in a set of acoustic pop that ran the gamut from delightful to tedious and back again. (Hatfield also confessed that moments before taking the stage she had accidentally walked into a tree; so for a potentially concussed musician— with a bump on her head to prove it— she acquitted herself nicely.)
Interestingly, one of the night’s peaks came on a song that seemed destined to fail, as the duo started and stopped and fiddled about with Hatfield’s recent lament “What Is Wrong’’ before locking into its winsome waltz-time groove and a haunting harmony pocket. Songs from the Lemonheads’ golden era — “Paid to Smile,’’ “Bit Part,’’ “Ride With Me’’ — were received warmly and were among the most sturdy performances.
The duo dedicated a tender rendition of the Real Kids’ “Common at Noon’’ to the recent and dearly departed Boston music scene champion Billy Ruane. It’s a tribute he likely would’ve appreciated.
Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com.
