THE GETDOWNS + RUSH HOUR SOUL + LUVA ANNA + SERGEANT - The Doghouse,Dundee 10-03-07
You can tell just how great a concert this was by the fact that we're now a week after it, I've been to three concerts since it happened and the thing's still whizzing around my head - sort of!!
It was the night of the launch of the new Sergeant CD-EP - with the recent launch of the new Rush Hour Soul CD-EP not far behind, and also on sale at the gig. Thus, without The Law anywhere in sight, it was good to see The Doghouse absolutely mobbed by a huge and enthusiastic crowd.
I missed the first act on - sorry The Debuts - and got there just in time to see The Getdowns walk the stage. Having put them on in concert the previous night at Westport Bar, and having witnessed a truly incendiary performance from them, it was with a certain air of trepidation that I took position in the hall and wondered if they'd rise to the same lofty heights - I needn't have worried. With the sound at The Doghouse spot on, they played an absolute ripper of a set. Pretty well the same as the night before, if you want to know more, then see the Westie review. There were a couple of things to mention about this one though. For that epic set closer - the "View Variations" as I'll call it for the moment - when they came out of the main body of the song and into the twilight zone of the mid-section, Stuart stopped on the guitar and ent into this almost mantra like mix of chant and singing as the bassist and drummer proceeded to lay down this wicked and powerful rhythm backing, almost like a tribe of Native American Indians having a jam, and to say it was trance-like was an understatement, as the two intensified under Stuart's vocal to provide this unstoppable sonic maelstrom. All of which made the re-entry of the electric guitar and the subsequent switch to hyperspace, all the more of a jaw-dropping experience than the night before and testament to the fact that this band are now rising very fast indeed up the ladder of progress, development and sheer unbridled enjoyment.
Based on the last time I saw Rush Hour Soul, I fully expected them to have a difficult job following that. Now I love the band, but there's always been a missing "X-Factor" that I couldn't quite lay my hands on. So, it's with great delight that I can make an announcement - they've found it!! Wihtout an word, they began the first song of the set, a new number. Well, forget their traditional strong start - this was a blast of rocket-fuelled proportions as the trio just let rip onto this set opener with a vengeance and a passion that I've never before witnessed from this band. There was almost anger in there as though they'd got a point to prove to the world and they were bleedin' well gonna make it - and how!! I for get the detail of the song for now, but suffice to say that it blew the audience away and the band got a rapturous reception as they, almost without a pause, took off on track number two - at the same pace and intensity, both tracks being exactly whar the band are capable of doing, but with a vastness that takes your breath away. For the mid-part of the set they played a few of the more familiar tracks from what is becoming one strong and classy repertoire of compositions, the familiarity, cohesion and commerciality of the tracks equalling the intensity that they'd just left behind, leaving the feeling of an excellent and flowing set. For the last but one track, they switched on the nuclear motors once more to impressive effect, and the ended proceedings with an all-star jam as the members of two Dundee bands joined on extra guitar and replacement drums for a giant run-through of a classic Oasis track, not only totally commanding and even better than the original, but massively powerfully played and a glimpse of the band's inner humour as they turned a long-held comparison on its head and actually turned it from albatross into an eagle. With all there band members - Matthew Dempsey on guitar and vocals, Campbell McInally on bass and Nico Hadden on drums - playing one blinder of a set, this was the new and improved Rush Hour Soul announcing quite firmly that they're nipping at the heels of the big league - and the best is yet to come.
Luva Anna were the final support act - and they showed great grace by playing what was effectively a shorter than normal set, almost you felt so as not to take any of the impact or crowd adulation from the main band Sergeant. So, we got the main set of faster-paced crowd-pleasers, plus "Bobby Smith", as the band positively raced through the set at a pace I've not before witnessed, so that by the time they got to the finale of "Big Fat Bouncer", the crowd, leaping around frantically, were only just keeping up with the whirling dervish that was Dave Webster, who finished a manic version by climbing on the guitarist's back. It was still a fantastic performance from a still unique and potentially massive, live force in music.
Finally, Sergeant took to the stage - now you might think that fater all that had gone before, they'd have had a hard job finsihing. no such thing! The huge audience were there primarily to see them, and the group had a secret weapon - songs!! - lots of them!! So it was that the band opened up with a mix of indie strength and jaunty pop sensibilty and immediately had the audience madly dancing, from the front to the rear of the hall. With solid playing that, for me, made me notice that this band is a lot more of a striking "indie guitar band" than perhaps I'd previously given credit, they unleashed song after infectious song after irresistible song, from a list of compositions that most bands would die to have as a set list, in potentially commercial terms. I've previously decribed them as "the perfect pop band", but I think, since the arrivel of The Peski Kings who really are the perfect pop band, you'd have to label Sergeant as a perfect mix of indie strength and compositional addiction, the fact thay they already have major labels showing interest, a testament to that statement. But, not only are this band full of catchy songs, they have one more weapon in their live arsenal that woulod surprise the shit out of anyone unfamiliar with what they do. Way back in the mists of time there was a band (still is, actually) from the USA called Lynyrd Skynyrd who, for 30 years have finished sets with an anthem called "Free Bird", the feature of which is that it starts as a flag-waving song and ends as this seven minute double of triple guitar-led instrumental coda that has wowed rock audiences world-wide for that long. Well, Sergeant have become the first band since the Stone Roses to do a similar thing in the indie music world, and, in this last track, have not only created a stunner of a lead guitar-driven finale to the song, a series of solos and cresecendos that is absolutely awesome, but in it, a song and end jam that would stun the shit out of any rock audience too. Quite simply, it's one of THE finest instrumental jam-style ends in the indie rock field, around today and as a crowd-pleasing end of set rouser, it is a thing of great beauty, majesty, quality, class and sheer almighty power from, of all things, an indie-pop band who have proved that major recognition is surely but a guitar jam away, and a band that could well turn out to be the natural successors to the seminal Stone Roses themselves.
A night of immense Dundee talent and three hours of 100% unbridled enjoyment.