live

Here are three reviews of the Toronto Kool Haus show. All pretty positive:

You’d expect some rust given their lengthy hiatus, but the band were in perfect form. They even apologized for bringing the cool, damp U.K. weather with them. But they really should have apologized for openers Wild Light.

A grainy Super-8 video of an airplane taking off played on a massive screen that backdropped the stage as Doves entered, gave a humble wave hello, then dove into “Jetstream,” Kingdom Of Rust‘s first single.

I was glad to hear the shotgun blast kick drum and dark, rumbling bass that were mostly absent from Kingdom Of Rust are still very much present in their live sound. There was a vomit-inducing THUMP THUMP THUMP that threw back to the band’s Madchester days (they met in Factory Records founder Tony Wilson’s legendary Hacienda Club) in The Last Broadcast‘s “Pounding,” which was met with cheers and rhythmic handclapping. Some joker near me decided to clap on the 2-4 instead of the 1-3 and was mocked mercilessly.

To read the full review, click here.

Prior to the show I was told that Doves were amazing live and I figured that they’d be ok, I was wrong. These guys are great live and maybe one of the better bands I’ve seen live. Their sound, attitude and overall feel of the show was amazing. I personally don’t like the Koolhaus as a venue but that couldn’t stop this show from being great.

Not only were the Doves one of the better bands I’ve seen live, but the way they ended their show was amazing

To read the rest of the much music review, click here.

The band came on at about 10:15 and to our surprise, there was a 4th member – Roman Rebelski, who was in charge of keyboards and all things electro. Playing against a large project backdrop featuring random videos, the Doves quickly launched into recent single Jetstream, and my oh my, instantly you can see what an addition Rebelski is to the set. With the added keyboard addition, all the Doves song seem to have an extra oomph to them. The material from the recent album had an extra kick, whether it was because of a looped beat or a some added melodies, I found the addition of the fourth dude to be quite nice.