The set played was the same as Leamington Spa with the encore starting with Northenden, confirmed by gristy over at doves board.
Also on the board, Baldilocks reports that a wee interview with the band done before the Leeds Cockpit gig will air next Monday on NME radio sometime between 7-11pm.
Next stop, the final hurrah tonight at Manchester Central! Should be an electric night. If your going along, have a great time!
Whist the Evening Standard wasn’t so impressed, the Metro seemed to love it..
****
Metro: Doves are a delight at BBC Electric Proms
Last night saw Doves become the latest to give their back catalogue a new lick of sonic paint – with the vocal assistance of the fantastic London Bulgarian Choir.
Not that Doves need much help to make a venue-filling noise; they’ve quietly become past masters at building anthemic walls of sound.
This gig was certainly not lacking in moments of arms-in-the-air rapture – in fact, as it reached its climax, it could have been mistaken for either an Evangelist rally or an underarm deodorant commercial, as the Roundhouse (London’s finest venue by a country mile) turned into a sea of hands reaching for the heavens.
If anything, the London Bulgarian Choir were, perhaps, a little underused – not featuring on many songs, and providing little more than (albeit awesome) backing vocals on some others.
But when they were given a starring role and fully integrated into the songs, the effect was spectacular – never more so than on profoundly epic version of The Cedar Room, the band’s second ever single, sounding no less majestic almost a decade on.
Whilst I wasn’t there, I have watched the BBC footage. I reckon the Metro review is spot on. As always with these one off shows, there will be moments that work, and some that don’t. Never been a big fan of Catch the Sun, but it sounded great last night.
Highlights for me was the stunning Birds Flew Backwards, Greatest Denier & Kingdom Of Rust. The Cedar Room probably has never sounded so good. Jez’s guitar never sounded good to my ears. The choir singing those high backing vocals was majestic.
Despite the duff ending, I also thought The Storm sounded great. A great night all round by all accounts. Again I wasn’t there, so I can’t really say. But watching the footage, it certainly looks like one of the best shows they’ve ever played. Would look great on DVD..
All things considered, last night was a good for one multiculturalism and dear old Doves did their bit by inviting the 30-strong London Bulgarian Choir to join them for a BBC Electric Prom that came frustratingly close to being one of 2009’s great concert events.
The two camps were a delightful contrast: one being badly dressed post‑punks with instruments to hand and two No 1 albums under their belts; the other neatly turned out traditionalists with only their voices to share and a CD available only on their web site or at concerts.
That, though, was as bold and brilliant as it got, for (excluding their Doves-free slots that book-ended the encore) as choir were immediately relegated to the role of multi-layered backing vocalists. Even here though, on Kingdom Of Rust where they added Ennio Morricone-esque gravitas or Catch the Sun where they were as uplifting as Polyphonic Spree, the Bulgarians made already fine songs even better, transforming the good to great, the earthbound to celestial.
More frustrating still, for too much of the set, the choir had no part to play and were marooned at the back of the stage in darkness, not underused but simply unused.
A cross fertilisation of northern soul with east European heart brought the third installment of the BBC Electric Proms 2009 to a shimmering euphoric climax tonight with Doves and the London Bulgarian Choir.
Resplendent in traditional Bulgarian costume the choir brought elements of vocal percussion to some of Doves most loved tracks expanding the scope of the songs and adding another dimension to the Manchester band’s rich layered sound.
Composer Avshalom Caspi, who was responsible for arranging the tracks for the 40 strong choir told 6 Music before the show that Doves and the Bulgarian choir are uniquely suited to a collaboration:
Doves were also joined onstage by north Indian c
lassical musician Baluji Shrivastav for the track Birds Flew Backwards which added another more delicate element to the mix. The unique phrasing techniques used by the choir perfectly enhanced Doves soaring post Dance melodies, creating real moments of transcendental beauty on tracks like Kingdom of Rust and The Last Broadcast, and on final track There Goes the Fear pushed the band’s famous supersonic Samba wig out to a new zone.
An excited Jez Williams declared from the stage: “Roundhouse, man! Top!”, before the band kicked off their show with 2005 single ‘Snowden’, with the choir chipping in behind the band.
The choir took centre stage when frontman Jimi Goodwin introduced the ensemble for a choral version of ‘Firesuite’, their instrumental opener on 2000 debut album ‘Lost Souls’.
“Eh, they’re giving me tingles again and again,” joked Goodwin, as the band pushed on to perform recent single ‘Winter Hill’.
Doves went on to play a host of other hit singles, including ‘Pounding’, ‘Black And White Town’ and a powerful rendition of ‘Kingdom Of Rust’.
Doves take to the stage tonight at the London Roundhouse as part of the BBC Electric Proms festival.
If you are attending, have a great time! For those asking, band are due off stage at 10:15pm. Plenty time for an after show drink or two, or make that last train home. If you wont be there, full live coverage of the show from 4pm on BBC 6 Music.
Expect full coverage of the show on the blog tomorrow night after the gig and over the weekend no doubt. If you are attending and want to send in a review/photos etc then just send it over using the email address on the right.
A BBC video profile of doves, which contains an interview with Andy & Jimi. Spoilers alert – If you don’t want any spoilage for the Electric Proms show, its best avoided! Jimi mentions a track they will be playing, that hasn’t ever been played live before as far as I’m aware. Correction:This track was indeed played live late 2005. I missed it obviously! :)
The video is only available to UK viewers! Non UK residents can watch the video here.
Many of you have been asking about the BBC’s coverage of the Electric Proms. The concert will be aired live on 6 Music, then highlights will be shown later on BBC Two. Here’s how the coverage on radio & TV will pan out:
1600 – 1900 | 6 Music Steve Lamacq at BBC Electric Proms Steve is live from Camden’s Roundhouse ahead of 6 Music’s Electric Proms show with Magazine and Doves, who Steve will be talking to along with guests Rick Wakeman and Jarvis Cocker.
1900 – 2100 | 6 MusicMarc Riley: Magazine Marc Riley presents Magazine live at the BBC Electric Proms.
21:00 – 00:00 | 6 Music Gideon Coe: Doves Gideon Coe presents Doves live at the BBC Electric Proms, plus Florence & the Machine and Metronomy.
23:20 – 00:05 |BBC Two Doves Manchester trio Doves perform an exciting collaboration with the London Bulgarian Choir.
There will also be coverage on the Red Button, with build up from this Saturday. Then footage from the gig will be up til October 31st. If there are any changes I will do my best to flag them up. So get those recorders out.. I will not be posting video/audio up for download or any links to other sites for download. There is always the possibility this could be released.
Expect full coverage on the blog! I have switched my work days to be able to hear/blog the show. Should be a good day/night wherever you are!
The BBC Electric Proms website is looking for some help from you all. Here’s what they have to say:
We’re trying to gather live memories from people who have seen Doves in the past and might remember some of their early or landmark gigs. I hoped you and the members of the Doves forum would be the right people to ask.
We would like short one sentence memories that will eventually go on display on Doves’ Electric Proms page and on the wall at the Roundhouse on the night of their gig.
Think you can help? You can post your response in the comments, email me, or post them on the thread at doves board here.
Some of you may recall, a couple of years back Jimi let Guy Garvey air a demo on his Finest Hour radio show. The track was called Devils In The Detail. As Guy is currently in the US with Elbow, the show this past Sunday was a “highlights package” thing. So if you missed Devils In The Detail first time around, then here is your chance to hear it again legit on the bbc iPlayer. You have until Sunday!
Go to the BBC iPlayer here (its available to anyone outside the UK too) then fast forward to 1.18 into the show, for the feature demo heaven. Check out the jingle also sung by Jimi! Listen to Jimi & Guy waffle on, before Guy plays the track around 1.24. Of course I never bootlegged this first time around, not sure how it got on my ipod! :)
Enjoy!
ps: If you are in the US, Don’t forget Elbow are on Letterman tonight!
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