CONCERT REVIEW: Dodgy, Cast (Cheshire, England June 8)

- Tim Kennedy

These days, it seems there are two different types of crowd at a gig

Warrington Parr Hall was host to a mixture of the two groups, come to see the newly charted Dodgy, supported by a bunch of young hopefuls Northern Uproar (whom I arrived too late to see) and Cast.

Cast have just signed to Polydor, home of the Who, Jimi Hendrix and the Jam. They are fine inheritors of the mantle. I couldn't tell you any of the titles from the set except that one sounded like an extremely raunchy version of The La's "Way Out". John Power, formerly of the La's, is Cast's guitarist and singer - it was a pleasant surprise. Each song betrayed an unmistakable hallmark of quality. Hard rocking scousers, they produced a string of melodies that were irresistible. I shall look forward to the upcoming album.

Anyone who has been reading Consumable over the past year or so will have followed my love affair with Dodgy, although they might wonder how I can keep praising them so highly when they seem to be dodging the charts with each release. Wonder no more for the pop messiahs have finally got themselves a (U.K.) top twenty hit. The band that have been so widely admired amongst their peers but ignored by the public have begun to cash in at long last.

Naturally enough they wear the mantle of fame with ease. Nigel, the long curly coiffed vocalist, recalled the young Daltrey in his gold lame shirt with wide, hanging cuffs. Andy the guitarist grinned impishly behind his sci-fi wraparounds. Matt the drummer immediately kicked off with his repertoire of Moon-esque looning on stage-right. The epic lights and music entry still seems a bit odd though for a band that are by their own definition extremely silly. As ever though, the daft humour is accompanied by astonishing virtuosity. When I caught them last year at the tiny Wheatsheaf in Stoke (in what I guess were the bad old days for them), the clever bits from tracks on both albums were reproduced without breaking a sweat. These days the precise playing has given way to raunch and swagger that goes with the bigger crowds and wilder atmosphere.

A spot of good-humoured crowd baiting ensued, including an attempt to arouse the simmering Manchester vs Liverpool feud (Warrington being the geographical midpoint between the two cities and inhabited by people of both). Then, the other two picked on the guitarist for being a Londoner (Nigel and Matthew are from the Midlands). They were 'buzzing' as the saying goes.

"Stand By Yourself", from the first album led off the proceedings- which comprised virtually all the second album this time. Despite my making some requests to Andy prior to the gig (in between his doling out kisses to the excited young ladies bustling round the Dodgy Tee shirt stall) concerning the Dodgy songs displaying an array of interesting guitar pedal effects, there was little room for electric guitar finesse tonight - this was good time rock'n'roll. At one point they spontaneously burst into Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now", merging into "Waiting For The Day" - the boys were out for fun. The band were joined midway by a small brass section who added their zest to the general festivities.

There was a considerable reggae element too, with some new material of this sort, as well as (for this writer very poignant, having been at the Ruts' first gig after singer Malcolm Owen died in 1980) The Ruts "Love in Vein" making a short appearance before merging into the blues-referencing "Crossroads". This material was more 70s dub-influenced than pop reggae.

After about three quarters of an hour the band settled down for an acoustic spot - the Plastic Ono Band-esque "What Have I Done Wrong?", the Stonesy "This Is Ours" featured as well as a couple of fine new numbers which were in the CSNY mold.

"Grand Old Oak Tree" restarted the rock'n'roll show and another brace of favourites from both CDs followed, concluding with the single currently doing business "Staying Out For The Summer" which looks like it may become the anthem for this years Glastonbury festival, where of course Dodgy are set to play. It was at this stage of the show that Nigel put on a black bra that had been thoughtfully donated by one of the ladies in the crowd, and it did look rather fetching beneath the gold lame top.

Encores were trotted out - and the high point of the entire show, "Get Off Your High Horse" with it's amphetamine drive, and almost Zeppelinesque guitar hooks. "Grassman" was accompanied by a pair of female singers, recalling Dark Side Of The Moon from Floyd in it's gross prog rock ambition. The song is a bit of an anomaly (amongst their admittedly very varied repertoire) but no less compelling for that. And with that the band were off, leaving a hot, sticky and thoroughly entertained audience to stroll off into the night, happy little ones all.