‘The Kingdom of Rust’ is the band’s fourth album and following their previous successes, together with the break from the spotlight, the pressure is certainly on. The band has most definitely backed their new material on tour with almost half the main set coming from the new album. Pretty bullish given the album release was only 11 days previous giving their faithful audience little time to digest the new material.

The set opened with ‘Jetstream’ the first track off ‘Kingdom of Rust’, a slow burning opener that swings into life with Jez Williams’ vocals. The set and crowd then burst into life with the melodious anthem of ‘Snowden’ as Jimi Goodwin takes his opportunity to bring his laid back yet powerful vocals to the gig, beautifully complimented by Martin Rebelski’s keyboard riffs on this track. The third song sees the band showcase ‘Winter Hill’ from the new album before switching the vocals back to Jez Williams and slowing things down a little with ‘Rise’. The audience thrills as always to the band’s famed Pounding anthem with almost all of them bouncing along to Andy Williams’ thumping drum and Goodwin’s pulsating bass rhythms.

The middle of the set is peppered with the new songs of ‘10:03′, ‘The Greatest Denier’ (DOVES in denial, rather than a penchant for hosiery!) and title track ‘Kingdom of Rust’, split by ‘Words’ where the vocal baton is passed once more to Jez Williams. ‘Black & White Town’ quickly revs the crowd up after the slow pace of ‘Ambition’, which is followed by the curious yet enjoyable new number of ‘Compulsion’. Goodwin ditches the four string bass here for a regular six string that provides the bass on a track that is somewhat of a throw back to the band’s SUB SUB dance origins. The upbeat ‘Outsiders’ and the ever popular ‘Caught by The River’, where Jez Williams displays his acoustic guitar talents, close the main set.

The inevitable encores commence, opened with the unusual selection of ‘Northenden’ a B side track yet to appear on an official album. But it’s a melodious song that quickly captivates the audience as Goodwin’s acoustic playing excellently compliments his laid back vocal style and Rebelski’s keyboard harmony. ‘Hear It Comes’ finally affords Andy Williams the opportunity to leave the drum kit behind, take the lead vocal and demonstrate his harmonica abilities whilst Goodwin fills in on percussion. ‘Last Broadcast’ moves things along a pace to the final and total predictable end to proceedings of ‘There Goes The Fear’ where the show is brought to the ritual close of the entire band simultaneously playing percussion.

All in all an excellent night of no frills, does what it says on the tin entertainment. Whilst the mainstream music press seem to be taking delight on heaping pressure on DOVES as the next mega Manchester band with the expectations of 2009 being theirs for the taking, DOVES are much more difficult to pigeon-hole. The sound quality was superb, if the stage and light show were somewhat basic. Goodwin has such a wonderful laid back vocal, whose bass technique superbly compliments Andy Williams exceptional drumming. Twin brother Jez is a solid guitar technician seeming to find different styles on each song, although riffs do tend to be at a premium and Rebelski provides more than just glitter on keyboards. If you’re new to DOVES the lead vocal switching will most likely take you by surprise but on subsequent plays makes perfect sense. Will 2009 be DOVES year? – Let’s hope so. ‘Kingdom of Rust’ debuted at number 2 last week, pipped at the top spot by LADY GA GA – and that makes no sense whatsoever.

DOVES Set List: Jetstream/Snowden/Winter Hill/Rise/Pounding/Almost Forgot Myself/10:03/Words/The Greatest Denier/Kingdom of Rust/Ambition/Black & White Town/Compulsion/The Outsiders/Caught By The River/Northenden/Here It Comes/Last Broadcast/There Goes The Fear.

Review by Tim Statham

We were through the doors only just in time to catch SEETHER come on, I wish venues could get people through the doors fast enough so they can actually see the bands they’ve paid to see, gripe over and it was clear to see that SEETHER are more than just the support getting a very loud applause as soon as they set foot on stage. Set opener ‘Gasoline’ reminded me of PUDDLE OF MUDD’s ‘Come Clean’ a bit whiney but satisfying none the less. After a brief respite back to the self pitying ‘Breckdown’, at this point I’m beginning to fashion a rudimentary noose out of my camera strap as the thought of an hour of this followed by an hour and a half of STAIND will push me over the edge. Thankfully the second half of the set contained their best material with ‘Rise Above This’ and ‘Fake It’ which got a particularly enthusiastic reaction from the crowd. I was surprised by ‘Remedy’ with a pleasing little touch of NIRVANA style grunge to it. A good set by one of the more interesting bands I’ve seen of late.

Next up was STAIND, which I saw last at the Apollo Manchester many moons ago were Arron Lewis came on and left without any crowd interaction and spent most of the set shoe gazing. So as long as the ever melancholy Arron could muster some personality I would go away satisfied. Like many, I imagine, I haven’t kept upto date with STAIND’s career, to say the least. From the set opener ‘Suffocate’ it’s fair to say their sound hasn’t progressed alot. Not being too cynical but it’s one of those bands that you just want to hear a couple of songs then bugger off to the pub *cough* ‘Its Been A While’ *cough* ‘Outside’. Its only right to give them a fair chance, but it’s evident Arron hasn’t gotten over his woes. With a truly manic guitarist Mike Mushok who seems to be listening to another band completely, Arron has developed slightly more personality to his performance. The new songs ‘Pardon Me’ and ‘Believe’ off their 2008 release ‘The Illusion of Progress’ show the band has found its niche and is well dug in. Which from the crowd reaction everyone is happy, in a way.

Ratings:

STAIND 3.4/5.0

Review and Photography by Alexander Shaw(click here)

Before the band officially hang up their instruments, they do have a few final shows to play, and luckily enough for their fans in the UK, that involves a full UK tour, which stopped tonight at the Academy 2 in Birmingham. Sunday crowds are never too great, but a few hundred turned up in Birmingham to catch their last glimpse of a legendary rock’n'roll band, that has influenced so many of it’s followers over the years, namely the likes of GUNS ‘N’ ROSES and MOTLEY CRUE.

We all know Andy McCoy likes a drink, or six, or seven, but if he was intoxicated tonight, you certainly couldn’t tell by his guitar playing. Likewise, frontman Michael Monroe was on the top of his game. He really is one of the last great frontman still vying his trade – assuming he continues his solo career post-Hanoi. The supporting cast of Conny Bloom, Andy Christell and George Atlagic were reliably solid, as you’ve come to expect in recent years as HANOI ROCKS have continued to maintain a healthy live following.

In terms of the setlist, new single ‘Teenage Revolution’ was a surprise omission, but the rest of the set featured some of the other best songs from latest and now final studio album ‘Street Poetry’, with a number of post and pre-reunion classics crammed into the gaps, including a typically moving ‘Don’t You Ever Leave Me’, and a bouncy ‘A Day Late, A Dollar Short’ both outstanding. The latter featured Monroe playing the saxophone melodies to ‘A Million Miles Away’ - surely a final tribute to perished drummer Razzle, the unfortunate victim of Vince Neil’s fatal car crash 24 years ago.

As the classic John Fogerty penned CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL cover ‘Up Around the Bend’ brought a close to proceedings, the crowd applauded and gave the band their final salute. As I fully anticipated, HANOI ROCKS had bowed out in style with another fantastic show to add to their long, long history. This band will be remembered for various reasons, but lets hope above all that they are remembered for being one of the greatest live rock’n'roll bands since the ROLLING STONES.

HANOI ROCKS Setlist: Obscured / Hypermobile / Street Poetry / Fashion / Back to the Mystery City / People Like Me / Power of Persuasion / A Day Late, A Dollar Short / Bad News / Self Destruction Blues / Boulevard of Broken Dreams / Don’t You Ever Leave Me / Malibu Beach / High School / Tragedy / Oriental Beat / Powertrip / Up Around the Bend

Photography by Alexander Shaw (click here)