Dry Cleaning Mesmerize at the Howard Theatre – 5/8/26

May 12, 2026

David LaMason

It’s been way too long since I last saw the South London-based band Dry Cleaning perform. That was in 2022 at The Ottobar in Baltimore. Come to think of it, it was around this time of year too. The heat of the summer not yet upon us and that nagging cold glancing back before it scurries off for good.

This time Dry Cleaning returned to DC’s Howard Theatre for Secret Love , their third full-length produced by Welsh artist Cate Le Bon. The band of vocalist Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, bassist Lewis Maynard, and drummer Nick Buxton creates a sonic tapestry where Shaw’s spoken words float right above the surface.

There’s something subversive about Shaw’s steady, often deadpan vocals atop the a bouncy, jangling and often funky groove. The way the beat draws in the casual listener before being upended by those words – spoken so clearly there’s no way you couldn’t have missed them. There are a handful of bands who have plowed the speak-sing ground – The Fall’s Mark E. Smith and Ian Drury and The Blockheads come to mind – but in this contemporary musical landscape it’s rare. Maybe those first two Fontaines D.C. records come close, but Dry Cleaning continue to set themselves apart. The band’s lyrical content veers from absurdist to something like an intimate conversation between friends.

Opening the show at the Howard Theatre was New York indie rock band, Hotline TNT, a band I’ve been wanting to see for a while but had narrowly missing their area show last summer. Their set was frenetic and fun and had me putting them on my list to see again in the near future.

“Happy Birthday to you…” Shaw started as the band kicks off with “Sliced By a Fingernail” a just-released single. “I long to be / Concealed / Under disco lights / Round and round,” Shaw sang over a blanket of fuzz.

More than half of the set was devoted to Secret Love which I was thoroughly looking forward to hearing as the record has quickly become one of my favorite releases of 2026 so far. The sonic texture of the record feels like both a logical progression, and it feels like a band unafraid to try new things.

But it wasn’t all new songs. I was glad to also hear one of my favorites from the last album, Stumpwork, “Gary Ashby” getting such a warm reception, and the funky bass groove of “Strong Feelings” sounded amazing. Dry Cleaning really do make music that feels cinematic. The musical repetition propels the narrative in a way that just feel perfect.

Listen to “Sliced By a Fingernail (Official Visualizer)” by Dry Cleaning:

After noticing the room’s dichotomous arrangement of one half of the space being relatively quiet and focused and the other half a bit more prone to dancing, Florence Shaw urged the crowd to all dance as the band played “Her Hippo.”

The highlight for me was Dry Cleaning playing two of my favorites back-to-back: “Cruise Ship Designer” from the new album and “Scratchcard Lanyard” from their debut. Both have this energy that I find myself drawn to, as the call and response of “Cruise Ship” has this drive while “Scratchcard” bursts into energetic rock motifs that are just fun to see live.

And I was pleasantly surprised that the band pulled out two from their first EP, Sweet Princess: “Magic of Meghan” and, ending their regular set, they played the understated swing of “Conversation.”

Dry Cleaning’s funkiest and the lead track on Secret Love, “Hit My Head All Day” capped the night as the band returned to the stage. The song has this rare sung chorus that breaks up the alluring spoken word lines from Shaw.

Dry Cleaning wrap up their US tour at the end of May. Definitely catch them here.

The setlist included:

Sliced by a Fingernail
Blood
Gary Ashby
The Cute Things
Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of a Boy)
Strong Feelings
Anna Calls From the Arctic
Her Hippo
My Soul/Half Pint
Cruise Ship Designer
Scratchcard Lanyard
Evil Evil Idiot
I Need You
Don’t Press Me
Joy
Rocks
Magic of Meghan
Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit
Conversation