Twenty-five years after rising to prominence with their debut album “Puzzle”, dada continues to play music overflowing with emotion.

Tuesday evening, they played to a full house at Skully’s Music-Diner as part of their 25th Anniversary Tour. Performing a near 130-minute set, Michael Gurley (guitar/vocals), Joie Calio (bass/vocals) and Phil Leavitt (drums/vocals) took their fans on a sonic journey that showcased their wonderful musicianship.

Joie Calio and Michael Gurley (photo: Jacob Thompson/Music in Motion)

They opened the show with Dim from their 1992 debut, the melody washing over the crowd and setting the tone for what was to come. With Gurley and Calio trading vocals throughout the song, their harmonies were on full display.

The driving groove of Fleecing of America backed-with the rocker Sick in Santorini had everyone moving with the music, the excitement level rising with every note. Proving they know how to work a crowd, they took all of us on a rollercoaster ride. Incorporating elements of blues, rock, power-pop, Americana and prog into the show had everyone yearning for more.

Closing-out the first-half of the show with a 10-plus minute version of Ask the Dust, they blended elements of the “James Bond Theme” and the Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” into the tour de force. I could be wrong, but I swear I heard the strains of the “Peter Gunn Theme”, as well. The prog elements toward the end of the jam from Gurley’s guitar were especially fitting.

Phil Leavitt (photo: Jacob Thompson/Music in Motion)

At this point of the show, Calio and Leavitt performed a mini-set of two songs from their band 7Horse. Calio swapped his bass for guitar and treated the audience to some grindingly-good bluesy slide guitar, as Leavitt growling vocals sang “Six bottles of whisky and a bottle of wine…”

They followed this with Meth Lab Zoso Sticker, and in the process let the dirty blues tone flow through the crowd.

With Gurley back onstage, they launched into a bluesy version of Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow” to begin the second-half of the show. Next, Leavitt was front-and-center with a tight drum solo that blended perfectly into Posters.

The emotion dripping from Feel Me Don’t You was punctuated with a wonderful Rolling Stones “Satisfaction” interlude. The country-blues flavor of Bob the Drummer preceded their set-closer, and arguably their most well-known song, Dizz Knee Land.

Michael Gurley (photo: Jacob Thompson/Music in Motion)

Treating their fans to a two-song encore, the palpable emotion of Calio’s vocals on Moon was a poignant moment that had the audience swaying. The beautiful, sweeping tones of Dorina closed a magical evening of songs and storytelling.

Setlist

1. Dim
2. Surround
3. Fleecing of America
4. Sick in Santorini
5. Mary Sunshine Rain
6. Feet to the Sun
7. Ask the Dust (with extended jam)
8. 7Horse – Low Fuel Drug Run
9. 7Horse – Meth Lab Zoso Sticker
10. Mellow Yellow (Donovan cover)
11. Drum solo à Posters
12. Playboy in Outerspace
13. Feel Me Don’t You (with Satisfaction interlude)
14. Hollow Man
15. Bob the Drummer
16. Dizz Knee Land

Encore

17. Moon
18. Dorina