The Capitol was already starting to fill up when The Middle East came to play. The sextet from Townsville were emphatic throughout their harmonious set. They had instruments coming out of their ears. The two guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, trumpet, piano accordion, flute, banjo, xylophone and harmonica added depth and a welcome diversity within their sweet and steady songs.

Every member had their time in the sun as they continually changed positions and almost all had turns with the lead vocals taking them from choirgirl soprano, to gravelly screams and male falsettos but mostly folk-esque balladeery type vocals. They were cute without being sickly, different without being kitsch, and sincere without being boring. This pop-py, folk-sy super group managed to spark some interest before the Doves appeared.

So the Doves … a name symbolising peace is appropriate for this band of gentlemen playing atmospheric, gentle rock. Guitarist Jez Williams waved from behind the back curtain before the group came and launched into Jetstream with Williams singing. It was hard not to be struck by his dapper appearance of all in black with red guitar and cordoned off in his little square section of pedals. Jimi Goodwin looked more like a friendly older brother than a ” rockstar ” and was polite throughout. Even when he tried to throw a pretend tanty, it was for a barperson to change the TV to ” East of Everything ”... liking family drama on ABC doesn’t add much to a temperamental rockstar reputation. But that’s not really the vibe they seemed to be aiming for.

Martin Rebelski is the Polish keyboardist who joined the trio onstage to add some different sounds, like a bit of psychadelia to first song, Jetstream and some more depth to others. Goodwin ’s bass skills were impressive, especially in second song, Snowden. The repetition in a lot of their songs was most obvious in Winter Hill with the recurring intervals like a wall of sound. Appropriately, the rhythm section of Pounding was steady like a heartbeat.

The Doves were polished and musically un-faultable as they are obviously experienced musicians in their own right and a well run unit. But when middle-aged gentlemen are the rowdiest members of the crowd, it says something about the tameness of such a polite situation. But during the encore, when Andy Williams switched with Goodwin for Here It Comes it seemed a lot more raw and he gave an urgent kind of even nervous energy which was a break from Goodwin and Jez William’s assured presences at the front of the stage. There Goes the Fear and other old favourites also meant the crowd could let loose in a sing-a-long. Apart from these, the highlight from their new album was the title track, Kingdom of Rust which was atmospheric, full of echoing vocals and reverberating drumbeats. There was quite a lot of differing sounds and tempos of the new songs and it was certainly a decent showcase, but nicely interspersed with the more familiar songs like Black and White Town. The final song of There Goes The Fear was a passionate rendition by Goodwin, with him ending with a drum solo, and giving away a bunch of instruments to the audience. If you were in the mood for civility and pleasant music then the Doves at the Capitol was the place to be.