Black Dub live

Went to see Daniel Lanois Black Dub at the Bowery Ballroom last night.  Great venue, and a perfect place for Lanois' atmospheric new rock songs.  This was the most crowded I'd ever seen the Bowery Ballroom, every available bit of standing room was taken, upstairs and down.  The band went on at 10pm...I was told it would be 9pm...for at least an hour they played audio of some Lanois instrumentals while projecting bizarre video images.  It reminded me of the days when I'd go see bands at the Ritz on 11th street (now Webster Hall) and they'd show old cartoons and freaky movies before the show.  Anyway, the band opened with "Nomad Knows" a good new tune from the supposedly forthcoming disc.  Lanois was wearing a wool hat on stage, it had to be 100 degrees up there.  Guess he was going for the "cool hat to cover up a balding head" effect.  The bass player was Christopher Thomas (?) not Daryl Johnson, who may or may not be with the band anymore.  Trixie Whitley's vocals sounded really great, and she also played some drums, guitar and keyboard.  Brian Blades on drums got the biggest ovation of the night when introduced, and he's a phenomenal drummer.  The music of Black Dub focuses strongly on the interplay between drums, which is at the forefront of the band, and Lanois' guitar, specifically his Les Paul.  The vocals seem secondary, although Whitley is a fine singer, and Lanois also sings, although as a compliment to Whitley.  The sound was good, but I thought they could've taken Lanois guitar down a notch.  Other songs they performed were "The Maker" and "The Messenger" both lead singles from his first 2 solo discs.  They also played all of the new tunes I'd heard ("Silverado", "Ring The Alarm", "I Believe In You", "Love Lives" and a very strong "I'd Rather Go Blind") which sounded very good.  I'd definitely see this band again, hopefully at a less packed show.  Here's a video someone took (standing upstairs obviously) of a few songs-