Doves

I managed to get a couple of seated tickets but wasn't really too excited at the prospect of sitting upstairs in the back corner of the venue - the night had long sold out and I was slow off the mark in getting tickets so I took whatever tickets I could get my hands on. Luckily for me, my sister was standing downstairs and bumped into two fellas who had aching legs and wanted to sit down all evening. Quick ticket swap was sorted. Great start to the evening.

I made it in for the last 5 minutes of "Alan" Stubbzy(?) strumming away, all alone on his guitar. Don't think I missed much. There were only about 27 people in the venue.

Shortly after Stubbzy came a band called Polytechnic. Their set seemed to get stronger as it went on and their confidence grew. A band that I'd definitely like to see again and worth looking into. By the time they left the stage the venue had filled up rapidly and there were at least 350 people knocking around and having a bit of a chat.

Third support for the night came from Richard Hawley (ex Longpigs and Pulp guitarist) playing a bit of nifty fifties throwback music. Pretty tedious but I think that a half full, big venue did him no favours. It was toilet time.

Doves finally emerged and it was definitely worth the wait. It's the 3rd time I'd seen Doves and they were at there best. I'd put a lot of this down to the sound in Hammersmith Apollo which, on this occasion, was fantastic. The fact that Doves had such a strong set of music is a bit of a given these days.

On stage Doves are an incredibly diverse and versatile band. The lead singer, Jimi Goodwin, is the bassist and occasionally drummer. Jez Williams plays guitar and keyboard and does his fair share of singing. For most of the night he was positioned centre stage. Andy Williams bangs the drums but even he took centre stage during the encore to sing the lead vocals on M62 Song.

There were a number of highlights during the gig and, apart from a short spell early on when my concentration started to flag (this was soon sorted by Black and White Town!), the gig was always very watchable and enjoyable. There was a mid-set equipment glitch which led to the crowd entertaining themselves by singing the catchy riff to The Last Broadcast. Cedar Room was sublime before the encore and during the encore there was a highly amusing sketch on the big screen. It involved the band hopping into an limo outside the venue, driving 5 yards and hopping back out again to go to the next door pub. They sat down, read a paper and necked their drinks before getting back in the limo to rush to the venue to play the encore. Very funny and fully appreciated by the crowd.

The encore started with Here it Comes and finished with There Goes the Fear (which saw the first full-on and widespread mosh of the evening!). Both were fantastic.

Doves certainly aren't a pretty band to look at but there music is so, so good and the gig had an element of humour that hasn't always been apparent in the past.

Setlist
Snowden
Sky Starts Falling
Where We're Calling From
Pounding
Almost Forgot Myself
Sea Song
Eleven Miles Out
Black And White Town
The Storm
Last Broadcast (a capella, to fill in time during technical hitch)
Rise
Ambition
Last Broadcast (real performance)
Caught By The River
One Of These Days
The Cedar Room
-------------------
Here It Comes
M62 Song
There Goes The Fear

FUTURE GIGS