Dodgy have reformed and that is good enough for me to venture out on a Wednesday night in January to see them play live in, of all places, the Arlington Arts Centre, just outside of Newbury. This seemed like an odd venue given that it is the arts block of the Mary Hare school for profoundly deaf children.
For a band that were at their height quite a few years ago now the gig last night must have felt like starting out all over again. There were probably under 250 people there in what the Dodgy website will no doubt describe as “intimate”!
There were a couple of issues with last night’s gig. The first was that the new “album” isn’t released until February and so the first half of the set, which was all new music, was enjoyable but hard going as I like to practice at home before hearing music live. I thought that the new world order dictated that bands now release music to promote a tour as that is where the money is rather than tour to promote the music but clearly not in Dodgy’s case!
The other issue was not mine but Dodgy’s. To be fair it was actually only leadman Nigel Clarke’s issue in that he likes playing the new music but is now bored of the hits that everyone had actually come along to hear. I can really sympathise with that but while the new music showed a real return to form for the band actually we all love to hear the hits too. So the second half of the set was almost entirely the sing-along tunes you love Dodgy for, including my all time favourite, Cold Tea. But you cannot please everyone it seems as the friend I went with was disappointed as they didn’t play Good Enough. However, given that they went off without playing an encore I strongly suspect that this had been intended but the clock ticked past 11pm and the curfew hour for the venue.
Anyway, it was an enjoyable night in an “intimate” venue and the very welcome return of Dodgy – welcome back guys!