Dog Is Dead
“It’s been a while since we played here,” confessed singer Rob Milton,”...but it’s got no less grotty.” Not that the crowd cared, of course. From the superb opening track Sin – heard first at their Rock City gig – it was a night where everyone was up for a great time.
I’ve been to plenty of gigs at The Bodega but I can honestly say that I have never felt the building shake as it did during River Jordan and audience favourite Talk Through The Night. The entire place shook and it’s the Bodega’s owners will be buoyed by the fact that its structural integrity appears to be in order.
As well as a handful of the best songs from their debut album All Our Favourite Stories, the band treated us to a first listen of some new material. And, stylistically, it’s quite a broad range. Their first foray was into hard rock, and if the world isn’t playing the riff to Hotel on Guitar Hero in the next few years then something’s gone very wrong. Full of screeching electric guitars, this was Dog is Dead abandoning their friendly indie sensibility for something altogether darker and more brooding. Before creating a panic that they were lurching into emo-rock, however, they scaled back the heavy metal for Fast Food: a catchy song with a dirty, thumping bassline.
Amongst this new material were rousing performances of well-known songs including the majestic 2 Devils, Any Movement (“it’s saxophone time!”) and Glockenspiel Song. Keyboard player Joss van Wilder was clearly enjoying himself that much that he threw himself into the audience – an act that seemed entirely in keeping with the adrenaline fuelled atmosphere of the gig.
On returning to the hall for their encore the five boys decided to risk – and I use that word advisedly – an acoustic performance of Young in the middle of the Bodega floor. A hundred flashlights immediately recorded the moment for posterity, although “it won’t work in the O2” was the shout from the gentleman to my left.
The best of the new songs followed. Killer Whale is a superb piece of indie pop that has ‘hit single’ written all over it. It’s commercial – in the best of ways – and with a decent wind it could well give the band their first taste of Top 40 success.
A rousing version of Teenage Daughter closed the show, at which point everyone went home hot and, thanks to the strength of the floor at the Bodega, alive and well.
Set list
Sin
Do The Right Thing
River Jordan
Hotel
Talk Through The Night
Fast Food
Funny Bones
2 Devils
Any Movement
Glockenspiel Song
Young
Killer Whale
Teenage Daughter
Dog Is Dead performed at The Bodega on Thursday 8 May 2014.
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