Dry Cleaning at Wonder Ballroom May 17, 2026
Art rock from Dry Cleaning meets an eager crowd.
English band Dry Cleaning visited Portland’s Wonder Ballroom to the delight of their audience. The group played an energetically deadpan set in support of their latest record, this year’s Secret Love.
New Yorkers Hotline TNT emphatically began the festivities with waves of distorted guitar bravado. Led by lead singer and songwriter Will Anderson, the quartet played indie rock that ventured into layered guitar riff rock on tracks like “The Scene” with its prolonged opening chords.
Later, Dry Cleaning arrived to the stage under the cover of darkness as short atonal pulses filled the room and grew louder. The band’s strength as a live act (and on its records) comes from the ability of each member to provide the other members space to breathe and extol their talents to the audience. For instance, Florence Shaw, the group’s lead singer, dressed in a long sleeve dress shirt made of four shirts, enchanted the audience with her softly spoken lyricism. Her delivery and presence run counter lead guitarist’s Tom Dowse’s dirty, yet glassy arpeggios and contagious energy. (Dowse for his part seemed smitten with Portland, proclaiming that his visit to Mississippi Records was wonderful and the city was a “special place”.)
Additionally, stand out songs included “Scratchcard Lanyard”, from 2021’s New Long Leg album. Shaw’s words: I’ve come to learn how to mingle / I’ve come to learn how to dance / I’ve come to join the knitting circle and Dowse’s intertwined guitar act as a verbal and musical middle finger to society’s expectations for women.
Feel everything
As the night continued, band compelled the audience to dance and forget the world’s controversies if even for for a short while. The group’s rhythm section, led by drummer Nick Buxton and bassist Lewis Maynard, supported the evening’s playful, yet melancolic atmosphere. Furthermore, Maynard’s constant sway across the stage and bass lines punctuated the air while Buxton’s self-assured play laid a foundation for attendee to move.
Dry Cleaning are a relatively new band, but they exude a confidence and unity on stage that belies their youth. Their audience was treated to a skillful performance that combined musicality, acerbic wit, a command of the stage. Moreover, their music exists as a veritable “fuck you” to A.I. slop, the 24-hour news cycle, and rage baiting. Their songs also demand a thoughtful, inquistive look inward away from the dredges of everyday screen life to consider what really matters: namely, the possibilities inherent in our short lifetimes and how we treat the people in our lives.
