Live Review

When I first checked out the Dirty Sweet Myspace page, following promising reviews of their CD in the music press, I wasn’t expecting too much; this rock fan is definitely of the old school variety, and it was going to take a lot to convince me that here was a band who could deliver the goods. 

However, all such doubts were very quickly blown away – here was a band that could not only rock hard, but also has that one essential quality that is so sadly lacking in many of today’s bands – melody! After being let down so often before after succumbing to the rave reviews of what apparently was to be the ‘next big thing’, in such magazines such as Classic Rock, here at last was a band that had the songs and the talent to back up the hype. Their debut CD, last year’s Of Monarchs and Beggars, will please all those who have come to feel that the age of ‘classic rock’ is a thing of the past: think a blend of Thin Lizzy, Black Crowes and Lynyrd Skynyrd and you will be getting some idea of what this band from San Diego is all about.

With this in mind I was more than pleased to read on their web site that Bristol was to be one of only two gigs in the UK outside of London the band were going to play as part of a European tour. However, concerns about whether the gig was actually ever going to happen came to the fore as the day came nearer, with no mention of it being made anywhere other than the band’s own web site. 

No word in Classic Rock, no tickets on sale at Bristol’s Ticket Shop, and no mention of it in either the Evening Post or Venue magazine. Only a couple of days before the day of the gig did an ad appear on the Myspace site of the Junction, the venue where the band was due to play. Now, the Junction in Stokes Croft is one of the very few live music venues in Bristol I have never been to before, and its description as being “63% punk rock” didn’t exactly fill me full of confidence that the band would be here (don’t bother phoning the venue; the line is dead.) 

On arriving I am much relieved to see that the band is here, but nevertheless, to describe the Junction as both small and dingy is to be generous on both counts, and it takes some time to get used to the idea that Dirty Sweet are actually playing in a place like this. As I get my first beer in the first support band, Seerkind, is doing a sound check, and I take refuge in the ‘beer garden’ (a term that does violence to the word ‘garden’) to take cover from the aural assault, whilst second support band Riot Noise sound to my ears a lot more agreeable, though still not entirely to my taste. 

About 10.30 Dirty Sweet take to the stage to a largely empty venue, a situation that is perhaps is understandable considering the almost total lack of promotion. Nevertheless the band perform magnificently - even appearing to be enjoying themselves. From the opening song, Baby Come Home, they kick ass in time-honoured fashion of classic rock and roll, play two encores, and even end up having their photos taken with what is possibly their youngest fan, a nine year old girl from Wales – aye it warms yer heart!  

Despite a thoroughly enjoyable gig I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed that they were playing this miniscule venue, despite their assurances that they were just over here to ‘test the water’: this band shouts ‘stardom’, and I doubt that it will be too long before they are playing the sort of venue that they deserve to play.  

I truly hope that they come back to Bristol one day (I will be the first in the queue for tickets) hopefully having shot the current promoter. Meanwhile, I’m sure it wasn’t only me in attendance that night who went home feeling that we had witnessed something very special indeed.