Dodgy 28/03/08

Pictures of this gig are available here.

First off the venue - the Shepherds Bush Empire is really pretty! YAY! I think it's an old theatre, and I really enjoyed looking at all the pretty decoration in the pre-performance lull... I always appreciate a nice venue, and this was no disappointment, I look forward to going to see another band there sometime.

The first act caught everyone by surprise, as the singer/songwriter (whose name I didn't catch) half snuck on stage, quite early in the night too, meaning there were only about 50 people there, and the venue looked pretty empty for him - poor guy! Musically he sounded like a bit of a Jack Penate sound-alike, which is alright, but a more original sound would be better... Lyrically he was fairly good with some pretty funny (seemingly) self deprecating lyrics about student life, and one about 16 year olds going into clubs full of old women to pull... It was a fairly short set, not amazing, but quite enjoyable. (A quick look through Dodgy's myspace friends reveals this guy was called James Rea).

The second support act was excellent! Called Misty's Big Adventure, and having a chilled out funky kind of ska sound going on, with great lyrics and a fun performance style, they were on for a winner! There was a bigger crowd (with a number of people who knew them already) and everyone was having a bit of a dance about, especially once their dancer came on stage... It's a man in a bright red suit, with inflated washing-up gloves painted blue attached to it... And he dances really energetically for most of the set! Impressive stamina! I think I might be adding their Barnstaple date this Saturday to my gig-list! I couldn't help feeling that their set was all too short... Go check them out!

The final support act was Mark Morris, who (to me at least) is better known as the lead singer of The (mighty) Bluetones. I didn't hear his name at the start, and spent most of his set thinking 'I recognise that face, and that voice... Now where from?!' right up until he played two Bluetones songs towards the end of his set (complete with accordion accompaniment from Dodgy's keyboardist)! The rest of his set seemed a bit like it was the wrong moment in the night really, as it was all very chilled out, and as he mentioned himself, quite depressing; which after Misty's Big Adventure had got everyone dancing was the wrong thing really!

Finally at about 9:30 Dodgy took to the stage. Joy. From the start of the first song the crowd were going crazy - there was a mosh pit going for 90% of their set! I wasn't in it for a lot of it though as Dodgy aren't quite 'moshable' most of the time... As were the band - especially the drummer, who seemed to get through a LOT of sticks: after about 4 songs he ditched his first stick, which I managed to get (WOO! ), and after the gig I looked at it and realised that it is really very damaged for a mere 3-4 songs! The set list was pretty much a best of, as expected for a re-union gig, and so I have no complaints about content, they played every song I wanted/expected, and even some that I really didn't expect! The main highlights for me were 'Staying Out For The Summer' (the point at which I joined the mosh pit properly) and the 'last' song, 'Good Enough'. For the encore they played two songs, one of which was dedicated to their old lighting technician who died of cancer last year (one of the many reasons they did the re-union tour) and then they finished on just about the best song they could have chosen really - 'Grassman', once I had navigated out of the venue I couldn't get it out of my head until I stuck my MP3 player on to listen to it again!

Overall it was a great night, and made even better by me finding a new band (I always like it when the support act is more than just ok) and getting some surprise Bluetones! I can't wait for their next re-union!

Gig list for April (so far, FULLY open to change still!):

01/04 - Gogol Bordello

05/04 - Misty's Big Adventure

17/04 - The Hives

18/04 - The Presidents of the United States of America