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6-22-01 // 10.50 am effects pedals as far as the eye can see [wrote this for a mailing list I'm on...] So last night I went to see Doves. I was still a bit surprised they were playing St. Louis, as we never get small UK band tours like this, Chicago's too close I suppose. I took the metro into the city center, walked down past a man on a streetcorner who I think attempted to sell me pot, and got in line for the show. The ticket said "doors at 7pm", but it was now 7.15 and everyone was still outside. By everyone, I mean the four people in front of me and that guy behind me. I looked in the big windows on the front of the venue and noticed that soundcheck was still going on. So despite the fact that I had to piss something fierce, I ended up having to wait on the pavement until like 8 o'clock. It was OK though, as we got to hear 2 soundchecked songs while we waited. But we finally got in, and after procuring a (proper sized! almost never in America) pint of Bass, I settled into a nice bar-like area that overlooked the stage. Point of interest about the venue. It's called the Galaxy, and it's a pretty small place. Your standard small club (300 capacity maybe?) that also hosts shows. But thing about this place is, that once you get inside, it's way long from the door to the back. But it's incredibly narrow. And the stage is on one of the long walls...meaning that if you're facing the stage, there's not a lot of room behind you, but the venue stretches on seemingly forever to your right and especially left. Plus there are huge columns ever so often, meaning if you don't get up really close to the stage, you might have an obstructed view. So getting back to the gig, the opening act was something called the Webb Brothers. I'd not heard of them prior to the show, so I didn't know what to expect. Well, it was actually really damn good. Hooky, kind of geeky pop/hard rock with lots of energy. Most entertaining thing about the band: the main guy (one Webb brother I assume) looked remarkably like Ben Stiller circa "Something About Mary" (complete with haircut) playing an electric piano. There was also a guy in a WWI-era battle helmet playing a Mini-Moog. But yeah, good opening act -- I want to get their new record now. Doves came on not soon after. I moved down from my perch and infiltrated the main, standing-room area in front of the stage. After various people shifting, leaving, etc, I ended up stage right, leaning on the stage itself...close enough to see the setlists and watch the guitarist solo, and whatnot. The band were in absolute top shape...came out roaring with a massive instrumental ("Firesuite", perhaps?). Forgive me that I can never remember all the names of the songs on "Lost Souls", especially the ones without vocals. Anyway, they played just about all of the LP, all of it even heavier and guitar-soloy than on disc. Perhaps the fact that I was standing rather near a giant bass speaker just slightly shorter than myself had something to do with the noted extra heaviness, but who knows... The entire show just 'cascaded', the band have that rather magical way with crescendos. So yeah, a full main set...highlights for me were that opening instrumental, "The Man Who Told Everything", and my favorite song off the album, "Rise". Harmonica solo sadly not performed live, but sample-played by extra keyboardist dude, but what you gonna do? The band then left for a while & came back for an encore, featuring "Melody Calls", and what I think were two new tracks, one being a piano-led, almost pop number (this may have been a cover, the melody seemed so familiar) and a blistering,huge Doves-ian instrumental to close the show. Oh, and the singer/bassist/acoustic guitar guy switched with the drummer for the first two songs of the encore. Drummer sang rather well and the bass guy was nearly as good as the regular drummer on the kit! So yeah...this was one of the best rock shows I've seen in ages, probably my favorite since the Manics a few years ago. As a live band, Doves are just as good, if not better than they are on record. Which is no mean feat really...go see 'em if you ever get the chance, it's a very powerful show. And if you don't own "Lost Souls" yet, pick it up at the soonest possible opportunity.
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