Dorothy Brings 'Gifts From the Holy Ghost' to Syracuse

Dorothy Martin is back with her third album, 'Gifts From the Holy Ghost,' which just dropped last Friday. Once again, the band has re-invented themselves as they've moved away from a more pscyh-rock sound on their prior album to a much more straight-forward sound this time around. Last weekend, we got a few samples from the album prior to its release when Dorothy came through Syracuse, New York to perform at The Lost Horizon.

The show opened up with Classless Act, who are fairly new to the scene. After just a few minutes on stage, you'd have never guessed that this band hasn't even released their debut album yet. Fronted by eccentric vocalist Derek Day, Classless Act brought a high-energy performance to a crowd that seemed to all get the message. Their set was filled with punchy rock anthems, wicked guitar solos and a show-stopping rendition of Guns N' Roses "Civil War."

You probably haven't heard of Classless Act yet; but do yourself a favor and check them out now. They'll be opening the show up every night this summer on that big Mötley Crüe/Def Leppard stadium tour, so you've got a few short months to brush up!

Classless Act opened up the show in Syracuse

The next act up was Joyous Wolf, who I've heard great things about, but hadn't yet had the chance to see live. Their set began with "Quiet Heart" from their 2019 album, 'Place in Time.' Additional selections from their set included favorites like "Fearless" and "Place in Time." The packed crowd continued to feed off the energy coming from the stage as Joyous Wolf hammered through a performance of roughly 45 minutes or so.

Immediately following, the excitement was palpable for Dorothy's headlining performance. Some of this is no doubt due to the continued thrill of live music returning to the stages, but there was an undeniable buzz about the upcoming album release the following week as well.

Joyous Wolf's Nick Reese performing in Syracuse

Dorothy took the stage a bit later than anticipated due to some ongoing technical difficulties. Fortunately, those were all ironed out and the band entered the stage minus Dorothy Martin for a quick jam before she joined them moments later to kick things off with "Down to the Bottom," a single that was released shortly following their debut album 'Rock is Dead.' This was followed up with earlier tracks "Gun in My Hand" and "Ain't Our Time to Die" before a introducing a few new songs "What's Coming to Me" and "Rest in Peace" with a cover of the Eurhythmics "Sweet Dreams" sandwiched in the middle.

The rest of the set consisted of songs from the first two albums, including "Raise Hell" and "After Midnight." While I was hoping to hear some more of the new material just ahead of the album launch, this served as a neat "last chance" to catch Dorothy with such a robust selection of earlier tracks.

After having heard the new album several times over already, it seems very likely future shows will lean heavily on the new material (it's great!). Often this comes at the expense of songs from earlier albums. While I hope that's not the case, it was great to see a headline show from Dorothy for the first time and get such a well-packed set list for the evening.

The current tour continues through early May and Dorothy is set to appear on several festivals this year. Get out and see them if you can and definitely check out their brand new album, 'Gifts From the Holy Ghost' if you haven't already!