Doves mixed up the set from the previous night in Hull, M62 & Valley having not been played live since 2002. The crowd did not seem up for this one, unlike Hull the previous night, a shame as this is a lovely venue.
Another short review of Doves set at the Snowbombing festival, this time from the Independent.
Crowd size had no bearing on the quality of the acts. Doves’ set, though sparsely attended –perhaps the band’s thoughtful and melancholic indie did not appeal to the ravers’ party vibe –was a highlight. With a “best of” album on the shelves, the trio provided a set spanning their 20-year career, including “Kingdom of Rust”, “There Goes The Fear” and the Motown pounding of “Black and White Town”. Doves are used to playing in the UK to crowds 10 times the size of this one, so perhaps Jimi Goodwin could have been forgiven for thinking they were performing for Austrians who had no idea who they were. “I can sing that in German”, he said, unaware that the majority of Snowbombers are British.
Don’t forget, you can catch Doves live on Lauren Laverne’s 6 Music show later this morning. Doves will be playing a couple tracks acoustic, then will do an interview. Expect to hear Doves around 11am-12 noon.
Finally, some sales stats for the Best Of album.. The Best Of Doves: The Places Between is this week’s highest new entry debuts at number 12 selling 9,714 copies.
Gaga’s album sold a total of 25,211 copies to stay at number one, the lowest sale for a number one artist album since The Last Broadcast by Doves topped the list selling only 22,437 copies eight years ago next month
Quite revealing figures, I’m sure you will agree. Apparently they are blaming the weather for the poor sales… I should point out that those sales figures for the Last Broadcast, was for its second week at number one. It sold over 52,000 copies first week.
Doves kicked the year off by playing the Snowbombing Festival in Austria this past Wednesday. Gigwise was there, they have just put up a short review. It seems like red bull and maybe some other stuff was needed for this one..
They’re followed by Doves at the rather ungodly hour of 1.15am, when most revellers are either off their faces on some kind of plant food or other or just getting their rocks off to some faceless DJ. What this means is that the Mancunian outfit play to one of The Racket Club’s smallest crowds, which is something of a travesty bearing in mind both sound and set are near perfect, a rousing double whammy climax of ‘The Cedar Room’ and ‘There Goes The Fear’ proving particular highlights. By this time, Team Gigwise is in need of some sustenance, and even if you can take the boys out of England you can’t take England out of the boy, and kebabs are duly quaffed in double quick time.
Gigwise later added:
Gigwise duly went back into Narnia to take turns self-harming with a rusty nail to Lionel Richie’s ‘All Night Long.’ The Enemy getting Thursday’s prime time 11pm slot and Doves getting Wednesday’s graveyard shift of 1.15am was a bigger tragedy than Iain Dowie’s face. Fact.
Speaking of Iain Dowie… From the beautiful Mayrhofen, next stop on the road for Doves is Hull in a few weeks time, where this blogger will be reporting from.
Tickets for the UK tour go on sale 9am at www.gigsandtours.com /24hr cc hotline 0871 2200 260.
UK Dates:
28th April –Hull City Hall, Hull 29th April –De Montfort Hall , Leciester 1st May –O2 Academy, Glasgow 2nd May –King George’s Hall, Blackburn 4th May –Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone 5th May –Civic Hall, Wolverhampton 6th May –Troxy, London 8th May –Liverpool University, Liverpool
9th May –St Georges Hall, Bradford
On a personal note, Looking forward to this tour immensely. I haven’t seen the band play in the UK since 2005, though I caught them a few times last year in the US where I now reside. Can’t beat seeing them over in blighty! See you there.
As reported yesterday at the official site, Doves will be playing a few low key shows next month/early May across the UK. According to gigsandtours Tickets are priced £18.50, except London where they will be £21.50 plus the usual add on agent fees. Tix go on sale 9am Friday.
Edit: Ticketmaster lists the prices as £20.35 for all except London ( £23.65).
Head over to the official doves site doves.net to view some special tour dates for April & May that coincide with the best of collection out April 5th.