Well, it takes a certain something and a half to get me to set foot in Blackpool, and as soon as the lineup was announced, I was all over it! Ist Ist, The Slow Readers Club and Doves sharing the same stage on the same night is something my dreams are made of – 3 Manchester bands I have seen dozens of times over the years, so this gig was an absolute no-brainer to attend regardless of the location.
As per what I expected, the weather was absolutely shocking; the sky and sea were pretty much the same colour and the wind was strong enough on the Promenade to lift you off your feet, so there was no fun at the seaside. It was a case of get into the venue as soon as it opened.
These guys threw me off at first; I immediately recognised a couple of members, but I’ve definitely not seen Bank Holiday before, it wasn’t long before the mystery was solved when a friend of mine told me that they were in the band Shade, and Bank Holiday was born out of the collapse of that and their former band. I thought the set was ok but the sound was definitely working against them as they were on early (6pm) and the massive hall that is the Winter Gardens wasn’t even a quarter full by the time they finished and through most of the set, so it sounded just like you might think: a lot of echoing and reverberation as the output from the speakers bounced off solid surfaces with no bodies to help absorb it.
After a very quick changeover of just 15 mins, it was time for Ist Ist and thankfully the hall was filling up by this point, not known for much chitchat, they powered through a set that not many would be disappointed with, bar it being a little “Dagger” heavy, unsurprisingly as that is their most recent studio release. The Set list was definitely light on the earlier stuff like Preachers Warning, Emily, Jennifer’s Lips, Silence and Extreme Greed that used to be performed live regularly, but the set was typically loud, powerful and with no let-up, meaning before you knew it, their 45-minute set time allocation was up, and they were saying their goodbyes.
In contrast, The Slow Readers Club gave the fans a broader selection of tracks from over the years, with only their self-titled debut and Knowledge Freedom Power tracks not getting a look-in on the set list. The space really suited Aaron’s voice, especially his falsetto during Boy So Blue; I was up on the balcony solo for this and the way the sound reverbed around the empty space upstairs really enhanced the quieter moments of the song, which was in a totally different way to how Bank Holiday had to fight it. The overall set gave the Doves fans who were now pouring into the venue a real treat as they delivered a near-flawless performance, well, bar 1 false start that Aaron laughed off; I guess that’s what happens when you haven’t gone on tour in nearly a year due to writing a new album.
To finish off the night was probably one of the most underrated “Manchester” bands of all time; originally a bunch of dance music producers during the rave scene, they morphed into an indie guitar band with a mission to simply still drift along…
Doves stuff isn’t all about anthemic tunes; sure, they can knock one out as good as all the top bands- There Goes The Fear, Black And White Town, etc. Their music is about getting under your skin, framing moments of your life into memories. Currently live, they are without “lead” singer Jimi due to his ongoing mental health issues, although he still works with them in the studio; live, for the majority of the tracks, Jez has taken over the role. I’m aware that many folk think that Jimi is Doves, and to a certain level I understand that; his voice has a unique presence about it which is incredibly difficult to replace, but live, Doves is more than 1 person; it’s the sum of all parts, and over the years the band have worked with some of the best session musicians in the business and have a very tight gang around them to help bring the magic of their tunes alive.
Starting the set with the tribute to Andy Wetherall video used last year during their autumn tour of a bleak Lighthouse in a storm scene, the band set about taking the now substantial audience on a musical adventure. Opening with Words, which they so often do, into Carousels and then Rise, it was clear that they weren’t on a “just play the hits” mission; Doves have a plan, and they were sticking to it. Indeed, they got a 3rd of the way into the gig before the “big guns” 1st started firing with 10:03, which led to the 1st big cheer from the crowd, and then they started dropping in the big ones as not long after Catch The Sun and Winter Hill started moving the crowd up a gear or two, shortly before aiming for the jugular with the big boys, Here It Comes, Kingdom Of Rust and Pounding where Andy left the drums to do a few on vocals.
The Guys then dropped it down a bit for a couple of more melodic tunes, but still massive songs for the band, Caught By The River and the absolutely glorious debut single – The Cedar Rooms, an unbelievable stonker of a debut track and with a run time of nearly 8 mins live, it is just one of those songs that washes over you and gets absorbed into your soul, it can be like an out-of-body experience at times and in the Winter Gardens it was no different but just as Rooms had you floating blissfully away, the crowd were smashed back into reality with the “pounding” Black and White Town, a tune that no respective football show failed to use for a highlights clip for several years after its release.
And that was it for the main set, but the boys hadn’t finished with the crowd yet, returning with another melodic track to kick off the encore, Snowden, before firing the crowd back up with the timeless There Goes The Fear, where, after Jez called to the stage manager, saying “Time for one more?” Of course there’s time, and there’s no better way to close a Doves gig than going way back to the start as those dance music boys they were originally, Sub Sub and Space Face gave the crowd one last hoorah and an opportunity to finish the night on a wonderful high!
As gig line-ups go, I don’t think promoters Scruff Of The Neck could have done better for the price of the ticket for Manchester music fans. The crowd got a respected “newbie”, an “upstart”, an established fav and a legendary band on the billing; was it worth travelling the nearly 3 hours round trip in horrendous weather to a place with, without doubt, a road system setup designed by a toddler and even after millions spent on it, still looks like an absolute dump – especially when the weather is doing its best to blow you out of the town, absolutely!
It takes something incredible to drag me to Blackpool, but if this gig were to be repeated and put on sale tomorrow, I would be straight on the computer – a truly magnificent evening of music that’s going to take some effort by SOTN to top. If they go ahead and return for another run of acts, which I believe they’re planning on for 2027, get subscribed to them on the socials because you really don’t want to miss out next time.
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