Now there was a lot to this gig that was promised that didn’t turn out to be true. It was said to be the first time that their debut 2003 album ‘Fire’ would be performed in full in the UK – it wasn’t – and was to be filmed for a live DVD – it wasn’t – but these two points wouldn’t stop this being one of the most enjoyable gigs I’ve seen, Electric Six or otherwise.
Arriving at the venue on a surprisingly warm and dry December afternoon it was a relatively confusing entry into the venue. Aside from the times of the gig changing almost on a weekly basis, there were two separate queues where you first had to get your wristband by showing your ticket and then showing your ticket again – why, Shepherd’s Bush Academy not put them into one queue? Once inside though, the splendour of the venue was great and the drinks relatively nicely priced for London. There were around 100 VIP fans who got treated to a five-song acoustic set from lead singer Dick Valentine – more on that shortly – but also received an AAA pass signed by all six members of the band and a signed ‘Fire’ poster even if the designer had managed to spell ‘its’ wrong but there you go!
After a fun meet and great section where all six members of the band mingled with the crowd, said their hellos and chatted, a really nice addition, we got the five-song acoustic set from Valentine. It began with ‘I Am The Knife’, one of my favourite classic ‘The Wildbunch’ songs and was performed amazingly. ‘Steal Your Bones’ from ‘KILL’ followed, alongside Evil Cowards track ‘Sex Wars’. From this 2012 solo album came ‘The Termite Queen’ and it was nicely rounded off with ‘Pink Flamingos’, one of the first songs I ever heard performed acoustically many years ago but performed specially here with Da Ve on guitar and throwing in a kazoo solo as well. It was a little shorter than I would have liked it but the inclusion of rarely heard track ‘I Am The Knife’ was brilliant and the new take on ‘Pink Flamingos’ equally enjoyable.
VIP Acoustic Set:
I Am The Knife
Steal Your Bones
Sex Wars
The Termite Queen
Pink Flamingos
There was a two hour gap between the acoustic set and the start of the gig but it flew by and the venue filled up to a packed out audience, with the bottom floor crammed with standees and the next level up with a seated audience. Though there was a fifteen minute later start than announced for the gig – and some of the crowd got a little impatient – the opening was possibly the funniest and well thought out introduction to a gig I’ve ever seen, even at the expense of dropping ‘It’s Showtime!’ which would have been fun to hear.
Lead singer Dick Valentine came on in nothing but a pair of boxer and socks to perform an acoustic version of the Magnetic Fields track ‘Underwear’, a regular from his solo sets, with lots of gusto and a look of determination on his face. Then, one-by-one, the band arrived on stage to add to the set, each bringing on an item of clothes for Valentine to slip on. First Tait Nucleus? came on with a shirt and then they did a much welcomed version of ‘Taxi To Nowhere’ before Percussion World arrived on stage with his trousers to do ‘Jimmy Carter’, complete with drums this time to add an even bigger sound to one of my favourite numbers. The ethereal music from the synth added to the effect and was the strongest version of this I’ve heard live.
The band then dipped back into their back catalogue as Smorgasbord arrived on stage with a cover of ‘I’m A Demon’, from the ‘Rock Empire’ album before the band almost became complete to do ‘Watching Evil Empires Fall Apart’, another lesser played track that was well performed. The band was completed by Da Ve on stage following Johnny Na$hional to perform ‘Crazy Horses’ as heard on their latest live album ‘Absolute Pleasure’ which was just as strong.
The first set was very much a greatest hits section and it would be hard to hear a better list of songs played, the only one missing that I would have loved to hear being ‘Germans In Mexico’ but it’s otherwise impossible to fault what we got. ‘Formula 409’, not one of my favourite songs, was great live, ‘Body Shot’ as fun as always and ‘Devil Nights’, a track I’ve not heard live in ages, was amazing with Smorgasbord’s bassline really making this track stand out.
‘Clusterfuck!’, one of their best live interpretations, followed and got the crowd going and, though perhaps not as strong as it was back in York, was a highlight for me, alongside its flamenco dancing. ‘Hello! I See You’ continued the pace and was received well by a crowd who seemed to have lots of fans in it, enough to sing the lyrics back, and not all a crowd just wanting to hear ‘Fire’.
Personal favourite ‘Jam It In The Hole!’ was as great as ever, and it was nice to hear ‘Be My Dark Angel’ back in the set, once more well performed. ‘Down At McDonnellzzz’, a live song that I didn’t like initially with its slower pace, has finally won me over and is a crowd pleaser and ‘Dance Epidemic’ proved it has staying power, with Valentine’s ‘Hey Ho’ chorus returning with the band singing the recorded chorus under him.
The first set was rounded off with expected track ‘I Buy The Drugs’ and occasional live tune ‘We Were Witchy Witchy White Women’, whose fast-paced nature really suits a live performance, plus included elements of the ‘My Drummer’ performance usually reserved for the, here absent, ‘Future Is In The Future’, and the ability of Valentine to get 95% of the crowd to sit down on a beer-soaked floor to add impact for the come-back of the song two-thirds in.
Over the first set the band were on top form and the sound system mostly clear, even if the vocals were lost a little at times. The bass was particularly prominent on the night and really gave some songs a good boost and overall the song choice and performance couldn’t be faulted, set off with a hilarious and well created opening that will be hard to beat for many future gigs. Throughout the gig Valentine made good use of the extra drums on stage, usually reserved for ‘Dirty Ball’, to add some extra kick to several tunes, here as well as during the next set.
Set #1
Underwear (Magnetic Fields cover)
Taxi to Nowhere
Jimmy carter
I’m A Demon (Roky Ericsson cover)
Watching Evil Empires Fall Apart
Crazy Horses (The Osmonds cover)
Formula 409
Body Shot
Devil Nights
Clusterfuck!
Hello! I See You
Jam It In The Hole!
Be My Dark Angel
Down At McDonnellzzz
Dance Epidemic (“Hey, Ho” version)
I Buy The Drugs
We Were Witchy Witchy White Women
After a thirty minute or so wait the band returned on stage for the ‘Fire’ set, their debut album in full, all dressed in white seamen / dance commander costumes, aside from Tait Nucleus? in a black set up. It was strong visually and set the sets apart, even if Percussion World had to extricate himself from his suit a few songs in due to the heat.
The performance was just as fun as the York appearance of the run down and the crowd naturally became much more raucous during these songs, singing along to ‘Dance Commander’ and even giving my personal favourite, but not huge track, ‘Electric Demons (In Love)’ a huge response. ‘Naked Pictures’ reverted to the original lyrics from the album after years of adaptation in parts and ‘Danger! High Voltage’ was naturally a crowd pleaser including the regular ‘Touch It’ addition and Percussion World doing an incredible drum section at the end, even bigger than on ‘Absolute Pleasure’.
The next few tracks on ‘Fire’ continued to go down well. There sadly wasn’t anything between ‘Stop’ and ‘Continue’ on ‘Improper Dancing’ and ‘Gay Bar’ lacked the expanded middle section, perhaps to keep the rowdy crowd in check. But the band did have fun with this with Da Ve kicking one invader off stage and Valentine giving a cheeky goodbye wave to one crowd surfer as they were taken out of the venue.
The album continued to be rounded off nicely and saw a brief appearance from retro track ‘Computer’ during the ‘I’m The Bomb’ breakdown before a spirited ‘Synthesizer’ rounded off the set.
Set #2
Dance Commander
Electric Demons (In Love)
Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother)
Danger! High Voltage! (With ‘Touch It’)
She’s White
I Invented The Night
Improper Dancing
Gay Bar
Nuclear War (On The Dancefloor)
Getting Into The Jam
Vengeance and Fashion (The Dirty Shame version)
I'm the bomb (With ‘Computer’)
Synthesizer
After the band left the stage they came on for an encore of two songs, labelled some of their favourites to play live. ‘Gridlock!’ was indeed great and a huge sing-a-long and it was fun to see ‘Rip It!’ return to the set even if the ending wasn’t as strong as I’ve heard previously.
Encore
Gridlock!
Rip It!
The gig was rounded off with an after-party in the venue and though I didn’t stay around for Tait’s DJ set, there was a chance to have a quick drink and a few words with lead singer Dick Valentine who once more proved herself to be a likeable, down to earth, frontman of a great band.
Overall, the gig was the strongest I’ve seen them live, even from a band that regularly don’t disappoint. The acoustic set was shorter than I’d have liked but included some great songs and ‘Pink Flamingos’ was done brilliantly. The first set had everything you could practically want from the band (though ‘Germans In Mexico’ and ‘The Newark Airport Boogie’ would have been nice to hear personally) and ‘Fire’ was great with the encore adding to the total of thirty-seven songs, a number nobody could complain about. There were a few idiots at the venue – in particular the drunk woman who decided to push all the way to the front and me out of the way to then spend the whole of the first set browsing her Facebook profilec rather than enjoying the band – but mostly the crowd lapped up the music and performance. Throw in a hilarious and well-structured first set opening, a venue that put on some complimentary – if a little bit creepy at times – visuals behind the band, plus some freebies, a meet and greet and after party, and you had an unbeatable evening and night of entertainment, worth the money and time it took me to get there. The biggest shame was that such a brilliant live set wasn’t captured for prosperity with the promised DVD but the night was incredible for the people that were there.
10/10
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