overlap

Sticking with not making it to see every minute of support bands, this one had me enjoying the deserted shops around the corner to catch up on some seasonal gift shopping and cast envious glances towards the women with seasonal events to go to in their fabulous party frocks before getting inside the venue just in time for the second support band. Olympus Mons (or Mount Olympus to you) is already sufficiently indistinct for them to also be listed as 'Olympus Minds', but you know what I'm going to say about bands and their names. A three piece, the drums and bass are pretty tight but the guitarist-singer is undoubtedly the one who catches the eye. The vocals are not especially distinct, though that's not news in this venue, but he wrings some fabulous chiming tones out of his Telecaster. I won't be rushing to track down an album at the earliest opportunity, but you really can't knock someone who takes off his hat to reveal an afro stretching just as wide as his shoulders. It's one of those quirks of timing, or perhaps not, that when Dodgy were at the height of their chart success it was towards the end of a longstanding government that couldn't get enough of attacking people, from the viciousness of Section 28 to the anti-fun stupidity of the version of the criminal justice act of the time, it was hardly a high point in social inclusiveness. At a time when the economy is circling the plughole and the current government claims ever more powers to barcode, DNA register, database and otherwise track its citizens, regardless of the legality of or justifiable need for such activities, there's a certain parallel in it being time for a change, and a time of hope for something better. So here they are, back this time without a broken arm, and playing within sensible range for the first time since last year's initial reconvening. In the olden days they were a fantastic live band, one of very few where I've paid a tout for a ticket when I hadn't been sufficiently on the ball, but even so I'm mildly surprised how good it is to see them again. Making The Most Of, a song for those and for these times, showcases their perfect marriage of pop harmonies and Andy Miller's guitar solos which do enough but never risk over-doing it in the context of the song. I remembered Math Priest being a great drummer, but seeing how hard he works at the vocal harmonies as well from this close range is a revelation. Nigel Clark always had something to say for himself, but in between a dozen or so songs he also has enough time for his chat to run away with itself into a few different rambling streams of babbling not-quite-nonsense and with the addition of keyboards from their Austin Powers lookalike mate, it all adds up to a glorious up-tempo, high entertainment value pop noise where the chat never detracts from the music. Easily one of my top five gigs of the year, welcome back! Nigel in high grain blur-o-vision: * Waiting For The Day is a song from the second Dodgy album, Homegrown

Labels: Dodgy, gigs, Olympus Mons