Review of Electric Six at The Academy, Dublin on November 26th 2011
Review: Saranne Murray
Photos:Yan Bourke
It’s become somewhat of a tradition for Electric Six to visit our shores at this time of year. It’s getting to the stage where I can’t remember my last run up to Christmas without them. Not that I’m complaining, they always put on a great show and I have always left their gigs smiling. With the announcement that they are to take a break after this tour this is likely to be our last visit for quite some time.
Support on the night was given by a young British band by the name of Swound. A band who were new to me but they really got the crowd going and it was hard not to be sucked in by their enthusiasm. Definitely check them out, they had some very catchy tunes like ‘Predator 3’ amongst the catchiest, and despite being a bit mismatched with the headlining act the crowd loved them.
Shortly after the support made their exit, Electric six burst onto the stage to a rapturous applause. Singer Dick Valentine announced that because they had the following day off they were going to treat us to an extra long set. He proceeded to call out what number song it was for the first half of their set. The crowd were loving the set especially with some surprising choices, such as ‘Down At Mcdonnelzzz‘ and ‘Randys Hot Tonight‘, but the biggest reaction of course was reserved for their hits ‘Danger High Voltage‘ and ‘Gay Bar‘. I was surprised at the amount of hardcore fans they seemed to have as every time I looked into the crowd they were singing back the lyrics work for word, regardless of the song choice.
As good as the show was it was very hard not to be distracted by some of the crazy fans in attendance. There was a guy who was wildly dancing to my right before the show had even started and to my left there was a girl, who decided that the concert was the perfect setting to give her boyfriend what can only be described as a lapdance against the barrier. I felt bad for their poor friend who came with them and had to stand beside them and witness it all, especially as things got more and more indecent as the night went on.
There was certainly never a dull moment throughout the concert and it was great to see the band on form. Encore included, we were treated to a very generous twenty song set, far more than I had ever seen them perform in one show before. Perhaps it was our parting gift seeing as it will most likely be our last time seeing for who knows how long.
Christmas time just won’t be quite the same without them.
