REVIEW: DEXYS AT BRISTOL COLSTON HALL (22/09/12)
If you’re expecting some kind of revival band, forget it. Anybody who’d come to this show hoping for a “greatest hits” set would have walked away horribly disappointed. You’ll get this from Madness, but NOT Dexys, Christ no! They didn’t even play ‘Geno’, their first number one, the song that’s spawned so many copycats (including some very crap ones).
Instead, what Dexys gave us was far more special. “Let’s Make This Precious?” Fuck yeah! (OK, they didn’t play THAT song, but it’s what happened). The 2012 Dexys is not so much a comeback as a new beginning. No album anniversary a-la Primal Scream. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but this ain’t it. Far from it. In fact, Dexys’ current live set is a clever twist on the trend for bands to play albums in their entirety, because with Dexys it’s the NEW album that gets the live treatment: from start to finish. And good on them.
Hearing ‘One Day I’m Going To Soar’ played live, complete with the theatrics and role-playing by Kevin Rowland, Pete Williams and guest vocalist Madeleine Hyland, really brought it to life. It was absolutely incredible on more than one level. With the current “classic album” fever that’s been sweeping the music industry, it’s safe to bet that ‘One Day I’m Going To Soar’ by Dexys will be celebrated as such, in years to come. How many artists can manage to create such an incredible work at all, let alone this far into their career? And it works live, big time. Leaving aside the theatrics and the storytelling, the songs alone sound fresh and alive.
Joining Kevin Rowland, the new Dexys features his old band-mates Pete Williams (bass guitar on the record, backing vocals in the live set), Big Jim Patterson (trombone), and former Style Council (Paul Weller) keyboardist, Mick Talbot, who also had a brief spell in an early incarnation of Dexys. All in all, it’s a 9-piece band, which includes “new girl”, Lucy Morgan on viola- though she was on the last tour (but not in the original Dexys of old).
After the new album came just four older songs, stretched out to about 45 minutes. But wait, it was better than it sounds! The only big hit song they played was ‘Come On Eileen’, and it came with a brand new twist: the band went off on all manner of tangents after playing the original song, and then eventually brought it back around with an explosive climax. Shame about the exclusion of ‘Geno’, but you kind of get the impression that Kevin is really not that keen on doing the obvious! They ended with the criminally misunderstood ‘This Is What She’s Like’, the song that failed to make an impression on its release in the mid-80s, but has since gained its rightful status as an absolute classic. Well, amongst the diehards, anyway. And it has to be said that the quality of the live sound was incredibly high.
When you‘ve been to venues with crap acoustics and useless sound engineers, boy do you appreciate a decent mix! And it must have taken some doing, because there’s a lot going on in Dexys. It rocked when it needed to, and the subtleties of the band’s sound all cut through beautifully.
Words: Arash Torabi
Photo: Angie Knight
