The first time I heard Dennis Lloyd’s single, “Nevermind,” I was intrigued. I started hearing the song a lot on satellite radio, and on the music channel I turn my TV to when I’m in the kitchen. A month or so ago, Lloyd’s name came up on my radar: he was coming through the Bay on tour. I requested to cover the show and quickly forgot about it. I didn’t find out that I had a ticket until the day before the show. The next day, I realized I only knew that one song, so I spent several hours listening to Spotify’s This is Dennis Lloyd playlist. Unfortunately, I wasn’t into it. I’m a girl of my word, though, so I headed to Great American Music Hall on Thursday in hopes that Lloyd live would change my mind.
I can explain my hesitation: “Nevermind,” while repetitive, has a pretty sexy sound to it. Lloyd’s voice is deeper on this song than on any of the others I heard that day. Further, I curse like a sailor, but Lloyd’s use of profanity in his lyrics annoyed me, as though he was dropping F-bombs all over the place just for “street cred.” It didn’t feel authentic or necessary. His voice is thinner, or weaker, on all his other songs, and none of the lyrics spoke to me. Nearly every photo I came across that morning showed Lloyd either in a cloud of smoke, with a cigarette in his mouth or hand, or both. It really felt like he was just trying too hard, and I was dreading the evening. (Later I did a quick Google search that reassured me a little. After all, he’s only 25 and there are plenty of non-smoky photos to be found.)
Anyway, when I got to the venue, the first things upon which I laid eyes were (and I’m not making this up) a vape cloud, a frat hoodie, a selfie photo shoot, and a group of lads (I’d guess they were between 17-20) all sporting what I’m guessing is newly-purchased Dennis Lloyd tees and hoodies. Decidedly, the man’s audience is far younger than I. Eventually, opener Ryan Caraveo took the stage, and quickly made me cringe. I wish I’d counted, because in retrospect I’d be curious to know which of two phrases he shouted to the crowd more times: it was either “San Fran!” (which I hate, for several reasons, not the least of which is because I think it sounds like the spoken equivalent of the dreaded DJ air horn) and “make some noise!” (which is maybe even more played out).
I’m not going to say Caraveo was lipsyncing, because I have no way of knowing whether he was or not. But he definitely wasn’t just singing live. Singing over the recorded vocals is weak, and yet the crowd seemed to enjoy him. I found him to be the kind of too-cool-for-school, takes-himself-too-seriously, trying too hard millennial that absolutely made my skin crawl. Somewhere around his second or third song, I typed “if I roll my eyes any harder, I’m going to give myself a migraine” into my notes. Making matters worse, Caraveo then instigated a call-and-response with the crowd where he shouted “fuck having the bills paid” and they answered back “I just wanna feel ok!” I laughed and went upstairs to wait out the rest of his set, hoping Lloyd would be a pleasant surprise.
When Lloyd took the stage a while later, I was sitting up in the balcony, having a snack. I waited through “Act III: The Reason,” “Act I: We Both Go Down,” and “Act II: Can’t Go Back” before I admitted he was better than I expected, which was a happy relief. Lloyd was tolerable, at least, and when he addressed the crowd, I smiled at the way he said “San Franceeesco.” He has a lovely accent. Also, the crowd: in addition to the aforementioned young people downstairs, was now also peppered with 50-70 somethings as well, was absolutely eating him up.
Lloyd plays multiple instruments himself, and had a saxophone player with him onstage, which was really cool. “Demons” and “Analyzing” came next, and then for the first time I heard a fan shout out “I love you!” to which Lloyd immediately replied in kind. Lloyd performed “Leftovers” from a stage set upstairs, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do. This was the first song I decided I was into; it’s a sad kind of love song, and I was feeling it. Clearly, the rest of the audience was as well, given that they sang every word with him.
“Hello motherfuckers!” Lloyd gleefully addressed the crowd before beginning “Nevermind.” At this point, I took my beer and headed back downstairs so that I could get a better view of Lloyd, who is undeniably attractive. He also played trumpet on several of his songs, which is pretty sexy to boot. “Never Go Back” felt like it had a vaguely reggae tinge to it, but some of the words were in Spanish. Somehow, it worked. Lloyd requested that the crowd sing the chorus for him, which they were more than happy to oblige.
Lloyd then made mention of having just released new music (his new EP, Exident, was released 4/5). “Have you heard it?” he asked the crowd. “We fuckin’ love you!” a girl in the crowd shouted in response. “I fuckin’ love you too,” he assured her. “Aura,” off the new EP, was next, and was absolutely sexy as hell, with spoken Spanish over a lovely instrumental. To be clear, Lloyd wasn’t speaking Spanish live, but he was busy playing guitar.
The crowd went a little nuts at the intro for the next song, which was “GFY.” I honestly don’t know when it happened, but the next time I looked at Lloyd he was shirtless, given him my undivided attention. The next thing I know, a bare-chested Lloyd was onstage spraying bottles of water on the crowd, who all have their middle fingers in the air right along with them, singing along to “go fuck yourself!” That must feel so incredibly validating for Lloyd, knowing that whoever hurt or pissed him off has crowds full of people cursing the mere existence of the one who scorned him. I can only imagine how fun that moment must have been for him, and I’m sure he gets to do it night after night.
He’s too young (for me, I mean), he’s a bit angry, and he’s tattooed all over, but… I’m not mad. “You having fun tonight, San Francisco?” Lloyd asked, before declaring that it was “story time!” and talking about how, when he was younger, peers in Lloyd’s high school had told him he shouldn’t sing that he sounded “horrible,” and that he had lost his confidence. (Regrettably, Lloyd had to shush the crowd at least four times in order to tell his story; I counted. It’s a shame that kids who reportedly love this musician can’t be bothered to stop talking long enough to listen to him when he wants to speak.)
“Think About It” was next with another great trumpet solo. “You guys are just fucking amazing!” Lloyd gushed to the crowd. “Do you guys know a song called ‘Playa?’” Lloyd wanted to try something, he said, before he and the crowd took turns shouting the words of the song to each other. Eventually, though, he sang “Playa (Say That)” for real, followed by “Snow White,” which was clearly one of the last song’s of Lloyd’s sets, even though it was still early. Without leaving the stage, Lloyd began his “encore,” which he said he thought was “one of the most beautiful songs ever written,” but he couldn’t keep a straight face, and quickly dissolved into a laugh. Lloyd then closed the set with a cover of Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time,” which was a pretty fun way to end a night that had turned out to be much more enjoyable than I’d expected. Lloyd is a sexy young man with a decent voice, and he puts on a solid show. Thank you, sir, for not sucking.
