Rob Dickinson, January 24 at the Viper Room

One of the few times I get out to the Viper Room but I'd go nearly anywhere in L.A. to see Rob Dickinson. It was some of the same set as he'd done at Coachella two years ago but there's not a bad thing that as he's playing great songs, about half his own solo stuff but slightly more Catherine Wheels tunes. Included in the set was "The End of the World", a track on the version of his solo album that was after the one I got, but it was so lovely that I had to go home and download it. For this show he also added some musicians so it's wasn't strictly solo and acoustic after the first few numbers, though, sadly, no members from CW but including a hottie cellist, and did a few extra songs, including "The Nude" (from CW's Chrome) and encoring with, perplexingly (and perhaps ironically) a cover of "Don't Stop Believin'". Yes, by Journey. But he pulled it off (though just barely). I sure like living in a town where you can easily get out to see shows like that, even better when Vanessa and Andrew can go and we can drink.