An unforgettable performer ever since her days playing The Smell, Haley Dahl somehow always finds a way to up the ante. She and the rotating ensemble that make up Sloppy Jane have spent the past year perfecting the live iteration of 2021 full-length record Madison (quite possibly the first-ever album recorded in a cave) over the course of tireless touring and rehearsals, and they truly put on a grand finale of a show.
Clad in her signature, blue velvet cloak, Dahl conducted the group with her entire being, as if she and her bandmates were one organism, one sonic nervous system of theatrical extremes. Between heart-wrenching ballads like “Jesus and Your Living Room Floor,” instant classic “Party Anthem,” the sleazy Cramps-esque “Bark Like a God,” and chaos incarnate “Where’s My Wife,” Dahl and company delivered highs and lows of operatic proportions, physically and sonically. And what would the night be without a collective New Year’s countdown and celebration (listen to “The Constable”--real ones know)? Bizarre, beautiful, and undeniably magnificent, Sloppy Jane is ever the triumph of will and dreamer’s conviction, a once-in-a-lifetime band creating a wonderfully peculiar legacy–Dr. Bronner surely smiles upon them from above.
