NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
It’s an old story. A legendary band gets back together after twenty years, releases new music, and sells out venues across the country. Dogstar a definitely not a legendary band but they have just released a new album “Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees” on October 6th, the day of their show at Mr Smalls Theatre in Millvale, PA. And they did indeed sell out this show as they’ve done all the shows on this tour. Perhaps it’s due to the not so little celebrity power of their bassist Keanu Reeves. It is interesting that, back when they first formed a band, Dogstar was mostly written off due to the fact that Reeves was a member even though the music itself was solid. But it seems that time, social media, and our society’s increasing obsession with fame has brought Dogstar its due. Their latest album does take you back to 90s rock with a variety of influences if you listen carefully. In fact, on their first single “Everything Turns Around” and a few other songs, you can almost hear the lilting voice of Brandon Flowers from the Killers. But besides selling out shows, Reeves’ celebrity power also resulted in the large queue of almost eighty VIP ticket holders in front of Mr Smalls three hours before doors! Some of the early entry fans had already attended previous shows on the tour and some were even spotted wearing Wyld Stallions t-shirts! This was going to be an interesting show!
LA-based garage band Archer Oh kicked off the evening’s festivities. Led by the high energy antics of guitarist/vocalist Arturo “Archer” Medrano, the band played a really fun set with surfy vibes that sometimes hit a little harder than expected. Check out their debut studio album “Gradients” or their latest single “The Loneliest Surface”. That being said, Archer Oh is an act that’s best experienced live.
Click on photos to enlarge
As expected, the capacity crowd went nuts when Dogstar took the stage. They kicked off the show with “Blonde”, the first track off “Somewhere Between…”. Guitarist and lead vocalist (and also primary songwriter) Bret Domrose was in fine form and in the spotlight literally with bassist Keanu Reeves and drummer Robert Mailhouse content to spend much of the show in shadow. The setlist comprised of the entire new album with only a of few additions. This is probably one of the few shows where you didn’t really see fans singing along. It could be because the record hadn’t been released until that day. It could also be that many in the audience were casual fans primarily there to see their favorite actor Keanu Reeves. Understanding that it’s hard for a band with a huge celebrity like Reeves separate the music from the fame, hopefully, by the end of the tour, more fans will have listened to, enjoyed, and can sing along to the music because it’s actually good stuff. Dogstar is already working on new music and we can only hope that Mr Reeves will have the desire and the time to spend on his musical career.
Click on photos to enlarge
