Doves, Neon @ Metro Theatre,19/07/05

Sun 24th Jul, 2005 in Gig Reviews

Most of the crowd were still milling in the lobby of the Metro sipping some of the most expensive drinks in Sydney when Neon took to the stage to support Doves at their Sydney Splendour sideshow gig on a Tuesday night. Their brand of tight, man-pop rock was not really an obvious accompaniment for the atmospheric Doves but then this was the week for mismatched supports (The Futureheads with QOTSA anyone????).

The dedicated who were in early, however, pretty much snapped to attention as Josh Bitmead’s vocals rasped across the crowd. Sounding eerily like Kurt Cobain with a Broken Hill drawl he captured attention without much effort. The toe-tappin’ catch in each track tells you why this Melbourne outfit is one of the young stars in Ivy League’s ken. The dual guitar riffs were out of this world and if you closed your eyes they were a tight unit. Open them up again and while they are pretty to look at, Neon didn’t smack of a cohesive band. Britt Spooner on bass looked a little left out of the cool gang and off to one side and basically they all just seemed pretty jacked off about being there. Maybe if the punters in the front had bothered to stand up the Neon kids may have been happier but what can you expect from a crowd waiting to be bathed in the pensive rock of Doves?

And Doves delivered.

The crowd bounced happily as the boys from Manchester cracked open the night with Pounding from The Last Broadcast. There was no traditional flogging of the latest album on the shelves at this gig. On the contrary, the band produced a solid mix of ‘best of’ tracks from Some Cities, The Last Broadcast and Lost Souls which just went to show what a jukebox of hits this band has turned out in three long players.

This must have been one of the feel good gigs of the Splendour sideshows. Despite a few mixing problems and some mysterious lead debacle going on at Jimi Goodwin’s feet, Goodwin kept up the cheery, northern banter, chuckling that it “wouldn’t be a Doves gig without some sort of shenanigans” as they had a second crack at launching into Snowden. And the adoring crowd forgave them all under a light show that was more sculptural art than your run of the mill flashes of epilepsy-inducing light stabs.

While some effort was made to transform their layered studio sound to a live performance, those transformations were a little light-on. Certainly, the band eked out each track to the delight of the punters and made some interesting tempo changes but I would have liked a few more on-stage twists. Their between track ambience, however, was lapped up and reflected their electronic pedigree. Deep in the boys past, prior to a rather definite genre turn, exists an electronic dance group called Sub Sub which sprung from fertile Factory soil (they were signed to Rob’s Records which was owned by ex-New Order manager and Factory Records member, Rob Gretton).

The crowd mood was joyous throughout and above their heads flashed little squares of light from mobile-phone cameras held aloft (this generation’s version of the raised cigarette lighter). As the encore closed with the divine There Goes the Fear the applause was thunderous and faces were beaming. All in all, a cracker of a gig.

NB: Despite the Metro’s exorbitant drink prices, this is one of my favourite venues in Sydney. The size is perfect, providing feelings of intimacy yet with a large enough crowd to create that harmonious mass buzz, and even a 157cm person such as myself can always see the stage thanks to the tiered standing. The best thing about the Metro, however, is completely hidden from one half of the patrons. The girls’ loos. Black and white tiled floors, hot pink doors, black diamond shaped mirrors with light globes around the frames, posters plastered all over the walls. There may only be three cubicles which creates quite a queue but they are, without a doubt, the coolest loos amongst the venue staples and I felt they were under-reviewed.