DOROTHY, the band, absolutely took over the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday, March 21st. DOROTHY is fronted by its namesake, Hungarian-born Dorothy Martin. DOROTHY (the band and the singer) are Los Angeles-based, and this was the opening show for the Redemption Tour in support of the new album, The Way.

Formed in 2014 and with four albums under her (their) belt, DOROTHY’s sound has evolved into a blues-rocker vibe. As good as the music is, Dorothy Martin’s voice is a gift—powerful when it needs to be, subtle when it has to be. She is right up there with any lead vocalist, male or female.

When Dorothy (the singer) came out on stage in a black leather jacket with fringed sleeves, she was ready to show the packed audience of DOROTHY faithful that their faith in her talent was well-placed. They tore into the 2017 single, “Down to the Bottom,” which set the stomping tone for the entire evening.

The four-piece band featured bassist Eliot Lorango (fresh off a tour with Jerry Cantrell). While Lorango is a mainstay and band director of DOROTHY, drummer Jake Hayden and guitarist Sam Bam Koltun were not playing that evening. They were ably filled in by Nick Annis on guitar and Chris Reeve on drums.

The show was a 12-song set, with four coming from The Way. This also meant they were the live debuts of the tunes. While the songs might have a slightly different tone to them when Hayden and Koltun return to action, nothing at all seemed amiss. That, in and of itself, is talent and professionalism.

If you saw the ads and social media posts for this opening night show, you knew there was a guest player that was going to make a “special appearance.” The Gibson-wielding man in the hat, known as Slash, came out for the final three songs of the evening, starting with the Charles Segar classic, “Key to the Highway,” followed by the title track from DOROTHY’s last album, Gifts from the Holy Ghost, and finishing with an encore of the burner “Tombstone Town.” (Slash plays on that cut on the album.) It’s always a treat to see a legend like Slash tear it up in a venue of the El Rey’s size.

It was pretty obvious the audience didn’t want the evening to end. Comments like, “Oh my God” and “She’s amazing” could be heard as people exited onto Wilshire Blvd. DOROTHY now heads off on a tour that has them bouncing back and forth across the country. See them whenever and wherever you can. This band, this singer, rocks.

The opening act was Pistols at Dawn, who have toured with Fozzy and Alter Bridge, so they know how to get an audience going from minute one. From Atlanta, the band features Adam Jaffe on drums, Will James on guitar, Gabriel Cuevas on bass, and Jonathan Sookdewsing on lead vocals. They packed a lot into a short set with a guitar solo, a bass solo, and debuted some music that they have been recording in Los Angeles.