DOVES (London Royal Festival Hall, 12/09/08)

BOOOOOO-URNS. Really, this has to rival Modest Mouse at the Royal Albert Hall last year as the most tragically disappointing gig I’ve ever been to. I take no pleasure in saying that, as I was really looking forward to this, but almost everything about it failed to impress. As someone who’s been to the Koko, like, 20 times I don’t say this lightly, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a headliner so badly served by a sound mix as the Doves that night. Not only was it screechingly distorted, but the bass and drums were so overwhelming that singer-guitarist Jimi Goodwin could have left the stage and no-one would have noticed. Didn’t help that apart from some generic “it’s good to be back” platitudes the band themselves were incredibly dull to behold- I’ve met sponges with more charisma. And let’s not forget the pitiful, half-arsed attempts at visuals- you could have put on a Windows screensaver and produced a more accomplished display. In fairness, it did improve towards the end, with a few decent-sounding new songs and a communal There Goes The Fear raising the spirits but with tickets retailing for £30, they could and should have put in a fuckload more effort.

AND, to add insult to injury we had to sit through half-an-hour of aging Welsh emos the Manic Street Preachers reliving their punk roots as a ‘tribute’ to record label Forever Heavenly, whose birthday this whole shebang was celebrating. I’ll admit a couple of the tracks they played were palatable, given they were written when the band was in their teens, but watching these forty year old men gyrating round the stage like teenagers (especially Nicky Wire, who wouldn’t look out of place in the Sex Offender’s Register) was never less than excruciating, a feeling enhanced by the gaggle of emaciated, wrist-scarred fangirls ghoulishly lapping up this affront to everyone’s dignity. Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all.

(Photo: stevec77 (Flickr))