Dodgy (The Turk’s Head, Dublin) on Friday 13th May
“Hello, we’re Dodgy”, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. The Londoners who formerly occupied themselves invading the charts with summer-ready, throwaway soft-rock numbers such as ‘Good Enough’ and ‘Staying Out For The Summer’ have experienced nothing if not a fall from grace over the past few years. Sure, not many bands push on into a second decade of genuine mainstream success, and this three-piece can be forgiven for making the most of their reasonably established fanbase, but tonight they’re playing a pub. As far as pubs go it’s a passable venue, sure, but it’s also the band’s first appearance in the Republic in more than a decade, and they’re greeted by a room that’s only a touch over half full.
And these days, Dodgy are… well, Dodgy. They’re still performing much of the same material that established them back in the day, and while it might be what the crowd want, it’s also cheesy and clichéd, coming across as an almost painful form of self-parody. To confound matters, Dodgy are determined to indulge in the most cringe-inducing type of banter imaginable. The problem with pop, you see, is it just doesn’t date well. Sure, there’s the odd outstanding artist who really lasts the stretches of time, but you’d be hard pushed to describe Dodgy as outstanding, and their early 90s sound evokes a feeling along the lines of ‘I can’t believe we used to listen to this’. It’s not a proud moment.
Tonight’s set list focuses largely on material from their more successful albums, ‘Homegrown’ and ‘Free Peace Sweet’, performed in a style that borders on blues guitar, coupled with the odd toned-down crescendo and plenty of nostalgic hip-swinging down the front. ‘Staying Out For The Summer’ and ‘Waiting For The Day’ are perhaps the highlights, with the inevitable ‘Good Enough’ tagged on the end for good measure. The band might look like they’re having fun, but a few too many in the crowd are looking mellow and disappointed, like they’ve just returned from a sugar-coated dream of times long passed.
Sure, Dodgy can play, and if it’s middle of the road rock with a faint edge of politics you want, Dodgy can write, too. What Dodgy lack is career progression, and as nothing has changed for the past decade or more, they offer little beyond a fleeting moment of yesteryear. We can’t see the band winning over many new fans; and frankly it can only be a matter of time before the tedium kicks in for the older ones: we have a feeling Dodgy’s first trip to Irish shores for more than a decade might also be their last.