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Review: Jack Fole
THE fourth in a week-long series of concerts in aid of the
Teenage Cancer Trust took place at the Royal Albert Hall on
Thursday (March 27, 2003), when Doves delivered a captivating
show in front of a near sell-out crowd.
Following in the path of Coldplay, Eric Clapton and Richard
Ashcroft (and friends) was never going to be an easy task, but
Jimi Goodwin and the Williams brothers rose to the challenge
in suitably stylish fashion, even if their support players,
Asian Dub Foundation, had earlier threatened to cast
a shadow over proceedings, with their anti-war ranting.
Yet from the moment the band delivered a suitably rousing version
of Pounding, followed swiftly by the equally sublime
There Goes The Fear (both from second album, The Last
Broadcast), to open things up, the atmosphere of calm and
enjoyment was completely restored.
Doves rather like Coldplay and (to a certain extent) Turin
Brakes, began quietly but effectively with their Mercury Music
Prize-nominated debut album, Lost Souls, but then burst
into life with their follow-up, The Last Broadcast, last
year. The new-found confidence which that album has provided
was plain for all to see.
Aided by a Big Screen, which broadcast a number of video images
to accompany the music, the band played a multitude of hits and
album tracks, all of which got the crowd going. They even, thankfully,
restrained from making any political commentary, opting instead
to praise the work of the Teenage Cancer Trust and the support
of their fans. Goodwin even noted, at one stage: "I can't
think of anything better to raise money for, than this charity,
the TCT..."
It was the type of performance, throughout, which drew roars
of approval, rather than derision, and which banished the memory
of the unnecessary support act.
Other highlights included the early tracks, Here It Comes,
Catch The Sun and The Man Who Told Everything, while
newer material, such as Words and Caught By The River,
effortlessly combined the earthy rock of their electric guitars
with the acoustic-led splendour of their more thoughtful records.
Indeed, part of the pleasure of watching Doves is seeing their
instrumental work in the flesh, as both Andy and Jez Williams
are such accomplished performers (on all instruments), while Goodwin's
guitar work is brilliant. They make it look so easy, yet their
songs are quite diverse and require numerous instrument changes.
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The images which accompanied their songs were also well-chosen,
with NY, in particular, featuring black and white footage
of New York's harbour and the Statue of Liberty, while the deeply
mellow Last Broadcast featuring a bikini-clad woman lying
in a field, listening to a stereo. Simple, but oh-so effective.
Another track, Satellites (again, taken from the second
album), was, quite simply, breathtaking - a quieter number, driven
by Goodwin's lamentful vocals, which was achingly beautiful.
The Doves set was in complete contrast to the hit-and-miss nature
of the earlier part of the evening, which had been kick-started
by the relatively unknown Rebelski, a band put together by Martin
Rebelski, the keyboard player for the Doves.
What they lacked in on-stage charisma, they made up for with
their music, which resembled a soundtrack to a film that hadn't
been made. Featuring two guitar-players, Rebelski on keyboards
and a female drummer, they simply got on with their music and
offered a suitably teasing insight into tracks from their debut
album, Thanks For Your Thoughts, to suggest that it may
be worth looking out for in record shops.
Then came the controversy and Asian Dub Foundation. Beginning
things in lively fashion, and bouncing around the stage as if
on pogo-sticks, the socio-political agitators appeared to get
the crowd going with their combination of loud beats, Asian dub
and ragga-rap rhetoric.
Yet they were unable to resist the temptation to use the evening
as a platform for their views, touching on the rights of asylum
seekers, before launching into an anti-war rant against the use
of the bombs being used by coalition forces. Such was the nature
of their broadcast, that pockets of the audience told them where
to go - jibes which prompted some of the ugliest scenes I have
ever witnessed from a live performer.
Forget the bad-boy histrionics of Liam Gallagher, Asian Dub Foundation
opted, instead, for outright confrontation, challenging people
to 'open their minds' and becoming involved in wanker gestures,
giving people 'the bird' and generally hurling abuse at them.
It's all well and good to have a view (whether pro-war or anti-war),
but to try and thrust it down someone else's throat, or belittle
them for not conforming, is where the problems begin. Asian Dub
Foundation's shameful attempt to do so completely detracted from
their music and ruined an otherwise accomplished show.
This was, after all, an evening about the Teenage Cancer Trust's
work in England, and the need to build more hospices. It had nothing
to do with events in Iraq. Thank God, then, for the sense exhibited
by the Doves who, as their name suggests, restored peace and calm
to an otherwise memorable evening.
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