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Free Manchester Show

If you follow Man City, then this one is for you! Doves are to play a free show at the City of Manchester Stadium to 5000 fans, confirmed by Man City’s official website this morning.

Live From City coming to CoMS

Doves have been confirmed for an exciting new concert in the City Of Manchester stadium. The band will play for 2,500 ticket holders and their best friend, with tickets only available to those who purchase the new Manchester City home kit.

Lifelong football fans, Doves were honoured to be asked to participate in the event. Singer Jimi Goodwin said in a statement “it is a great honour to be asked to headline this event. I’ve been a City supporter all my life, so playing to a crowd of 5,000 people with the City of Manchester Stadium in the background is going to be an amazing experience.”

Also due to perform is Mike Pickering, the DJ whose ‘Nude’ nights in the Hacienda helped launch the club. A major figure in the story of both the club and Factory Records, Pickering is also a life long Manchester City supporter.

Joining the bill are Twisted Wheel, who recently supported Oasis at their Heaton Park shows. Hotly tipped act Kid British is also scheduled to play, with indie newcomers The Answering Machine due to perform at the event.

In addition to this a host of young musical talent from from Manchester City’s Kickz programme are due to perform, with the famous MCFC Big Band also set to drop by.

City’s 2009-10 season home kit, which will be available exclusively from City’s stores and via www.mcfc.co.uk, can be pre ordered online from 9.00am on 1st July and the first 2,500 people to do so will have the chance to request a pair of free tickets to this one-off event. Those fans who pre order will receive their shirts on 17th July, enabling ticket winners to wear it to the gig that evening.

Not only are Umbro and MCFC giving away 5,000 tickets, they’re also offering the chance for one budding Manchester DJ to play live at the event through a competition online at www.mcfc.co.uk from 1st July. Xfm’s Gareth Brooks and Mike Pickering will choose the winner who will support these fantastic acts.

For all the info, visit Man City’s Official website.

For all of you hoping to attending, good luck!

Winter Hill Single Artwork

Cat #: HVN192

From Norman Records:

DOVES Winter Hill 2009 UK limited edition 2-track 7″ vinyl single – Known locally, ‘Winter Hill’ is a beauty spot between Chorley and Bolton in the West Pennine Moors. It’s famed for its UFO sightings, mining activity, aeroplane disasters and murders but to Doves it clearly means something altogether more magical and ethereal. Already a fan’s favourite, ‘Winter Hill’ ushers the listener in via a pop Reich repetition, all looped effects and soaring synths before morphing into what canonly be described as a love song. Furthermore, on the b-side, there’s a totally different change of pace with the Dylanesque ‘Brazil’, a new track that adds yet another dimension to Doves repertoire!.

Winter Hill is released July 20th. It is expected the download single will feature a host of Jetstream remixes.

Doves Almost Never Flew

Doves spoke to the Sun about the upcoming headline set at Glastonbury. Its an interesting watch, with Jimi admitting the band almost called it a day after their debut performance at Glastonbury back in 1998.

After a shambolic appearance at Glastonbury in 1998, the boys nearly split up following their first festival.

Frontman JIMI GOODWIN said: “We came home with the worst hangover and we just got the horrors.

“We had a meeting in the pub… It was ridiculous.

“We’d not even put out our first single and after all the hardship of SUB SUB (their former band) and all of the ups and downs, we come home from Glastonbury with a bit of a hangover and decide before we’ve even put anything out to split up!”

To see the the full article, and watch the video of the interview click here.

Winter Hill Single Update

clickmusic.com states that the Winter Hill 7″ vinyl will feature the b-side Brazil. There is a CDR promo doing the rounds, which features an image of a snowy railway track. Tracks on the promo are:

1. Winter Hill (Radio Mix) Mixed By Dave Bascombe
2. Winter Hill (Instrumental)

Doves official website doves.net is now back online with a temporary homepage. The site had been hosted by Mubito, who recently went bust. We hope to see a fully functioning doves.net back soon.

Mercury Music Prize Kiss Of Death?

Whilst the nominations for the Mercury Music Prize are not announced til late next month. Doves have already been installed joint favourites to win along with Little Boots. So that’s that then!?

The prize is scheduled to be awarded on September 8th in London. Rumour has it, the Silver Fox fan club already have a winners party booked. More as we have it!

Another Delamere Forest Fan Review

Photo by gibbo1968

Here we have another review of the Delamere Forest show. This time from gibbo1968 , who previously submitted his photos & videos of the show to the blog, which you can view here. Gibbo wrote this review originally for u2.com.

Me,mrs gibbo and mulls ventured into the forest at the weekend to see Doves again(this was my 3rd Doves gig of the year).

I know I keep bangin on about them but they are just a great band that are so underrated it’s scandalous.I have Kingdom of rust on constant play,it’s my album of the year and yes I am starting to lean towards Doves more than U2,which although alarming is justified,anyway about the gig.

We ambled down to the arena set in a clearing in the forest with a banked hillside full of picnickers,deckchairs and kids.Jimi quoted during the gig it was like a creche,certainly the widest ranging audience of any gig i’ve been to.

We positioned ourselves on the rail andy’s side and watched support band Delphic,never heard of them but they were actually quite good,on first glance they were like A.N.other skinny indie kid band but sounded like New order/Kraftwerk with an indie edge.Check out their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/delphic

On to the main event and tour opener Jetstream kicks off as usual with(corny I know) a jet coming in to land on the video screen in the background.It’s a kraftwerk tinged belter that opened the album and sets the mood for the rest of the gig.There’s so many layers and styles to Doves songs from country rock Kingdom of rust to melancholy of The last broadcast,chilled out vibe of Almost forgot myself and Cedar room,motown/soul influenced Here it comes,all out dance rock of Black and white town and Pounding to the set closer and rave blast from the past pre Doves incarnation sub sub choon Space face.

So they cover all bases really so go and check ’em out PLEASE! if only for Cedar room alone which was my highlight of the evening.

Thanks Gibbo!

If you are planning on seeing doves at Glastonbury this Friday and you fancy writing a review, we would love to hear from you. Just email us your review here. We will post all reviews submitted to us. More on doves at Glastonbury coming later this week. Including some live footage from previous Glastonbury sets.

Remixes

Here’s a picture of the new promo that’s now doing the rounds on ebay. Its expected some of these remixes, if not all will be featured on the Winter Hill single, released July 20th.

You can check out the jackbeadle remix of Jetstream at his myspace page here. We like it!

Glastonbury on BBC TV

Info, thanks to tricky6 over at doves board. You can watch doves performance from Glastonbury’s John Peel tent on BBC Three on Friday night from 10:30pm. Its a shared show with Bloc Party.

With a bit of luck we will have doves Glasto performance for you here also.

Delamere Forest Fan Review

We have another excellent review of the Delamere Forest show. This one was submitted to us by Si. He was checking us out whilst on the train back to Manchester. Got to love modern technology.

Delamere Forest 13 June 2009

How many bands can close a gig with a cover of a song that they made famous themselves when they were a different group? Such is the enigmatic attraction of Doves. A band who’s recent Kindgom of Rust album has finally got them the critical acclaim that many have known they deserved for a long time. Set alongside the recent belated recognition for Elbow by the music industry and general public alike, it feels like the Manchester music scene is once again the centre of the world.

What better place to celebrate this musical epiphany than a gig in a forest in their home county of Cheshire. On a perfect summer evening which brought not clear blue skies, but just enough clouds to create the perfect sunset to form a backdrop to one of the gigs of the decade.

Delphic put in a solid performance, but despite their best efforts still looked dwarfed by the setting. Their studied mix of electronica and indie guitar set the right tone though, and provided ample entertainment as the waiting gathering tucked into picnics, enjoyed copious quantities of alcohol and chatted amongst themselves, pausing only to comment how the nice man from the Forestry Commission really should have been told that it’s just Doves and no definite article is required, but no harm done.

The gentle opening waft of Jetstream brings recognition and approval from the audience. This is a crowd that range from the under 5’s (free –thanks Forestry Commission, darn fine idea!) to the majority of 30 and 40 somethings, and whilst many are clearly long time fans, they love and respect the brilliance of the new and the old. After all, isn’t reinvention, rebirth and recreation the history of Doves?

Slipping back a few years for Snowden and then returning to the now with the superb new local favourite Winter Hill, Doves demonstrated with some style that they can keep the classics in reserve, and the crowd would be equally happy if they only played new tracks. Rise is followed by Pounding and with the light fading, the crowd are well and truly ready to let it all out. Almost Forgot Myself brings a touch of pop before the reset button is hit by the lyrical opening of 10:03 which builds towards it’s climax as the darkness falls and the crowd is readied for the anthemic Words. More perfect English summer brilliance of sweeping highs and lows courtesy of The Greatest Denier gives way to the country overtones and telstar chords of Kingdom Of Rust.

My son nervously checks my watch. Worried that they won’t have much longer on stage. He just wants more and more. This is his first ever proper concert and he is loving it. Dancing to every track, throwing shapes in the liberated way that only a 8 year old can. Black and White town puts everyone back in the singalong mood before we are dragged into the maelstrom by the riptide that is The Outsiders.

Caught By The River tops up the summer mood but no-one believed that they would close a show this special with it. A few years ago, maybe, but not now. Returning to the stage with The Cedar Room, the fans knew that they would get all that they wanted tonight. Keyboard, guitar, drums and voice, simple progression, perfectly delivered. Last Broadcast brings a lilting comedown before There Goes The Fear reminds us that we had been waiting for that night, but somehow we’d forgotten about it, everything else had been so great, we wouldn’t have noticed it was missing.

Some of the crowd start to leave. After all, it makes sense, they closed on one of their best known songs, a real sing along and of course it has the cowbells at the end. But the faithful remain, baying for more. The amps are still live and we are treated to a second encore. As the premature ejectors turn and face the stage, there are a few puzzled glances as it dawns on us that we are about to be treated to Space face, live. For those of us that came to God’s own City of Manchester because of the music and the attitude of the early 90’s, it was a belting, aching reminder of how long we had held the music of Doves close to our hearts. 18 years since their first single they came home tonight and showed that they have come of age and can at last be recognised for the genius that is Doves.

Summer people indeed, summer people.

Thanks Si! That’s great that your son saw doves for his first concert. What a way to start!

Melophobe.com Boston Review

Photo by Ian Doreian of melophobe.com

Thanks to Beth, for letting us know about this Boston Review. Check it out, for some of the best pictures of the US tour.

In my experience, the most difficult show to review is the one embroiled in mediocrity. Luckily for me, Doves wasted no time creating a dense wall-to-wall melodic soundscape in the House of Blues: a perfect compliment to the massive scrim onto which clever Danny Boyle-like music videos danced for the duration of the concert. The best live acts let you know right from the get-go that you’re going to enjoy yourself.

In the final performance their 2009 North American tour, Doves opening number “Jetstream” from their most recent release Kingdom of Rust functioned as a veritable “look what we can do,” comprised of a three or four minute crescendo that rolled together layers of programmed bass drums and snares, wobbly synthesizers, and surging guitar licks as it tumbled forward. Critics have hailed Kingdom as the group’s most ambitious project, and their performance showed that this ambition translates to the stage.

To read the full review, and see more stunning photos, click here.