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Doves are the epitome of this "music first, band members later" idea that I've always loved, and are by far the most under-rated band I've had the pleasure to do business with lately.

The gig was held at the Bristol Academy, where I saw Stereophonics in the summer.  This venue promises me Turin Brakes next year, too, so it's turning out to be a really vital club for this area to receive some really important acts.  Bristol's a small place, as cities go, and can't handle big shows, so this venue provides for me a more intimate and hotter experience than I'll find at most other places.  I'll never forget watching Kelly Jones' sweat splash across the crowd!  Makes for some great close up photos too!

The support act were intriguing, I'd perhaps like to hear them recorded, I'm not yet sure whether the live act worked.  They were called The Delgados, they're from Scotland, and I think I counted about 9 band members - 2 singers, each playing guitar, a bassist, a drummer, a keyboard player, a flute player, a cellist and 2 violin players!  But the sound was, like I say, intriguing, and although on the night I was ready for Doves' Pounding, so the orchestral folk rock music they produced didn't work for me, I'd like to find out more outside of that setting.

Quick rant about the crew - I guess previous gigs I've attended have been more slick, but there seemed to be a long wait for Doves after The Delgados had left.  A lot of the crew looked pissed off that the equipment wasn't turned on, or wasn't being checked in time.  But anyway, for the best part, it didn't take away from the performance.

We were greeted at first with a video about finding the end of your rainbow and that pot of gold.  Was rather abstract and sepia-like, which is a signature Doves style video, and as our eyes were distracted by the video, on comes Jez, then Andy, and Jimi.  They also had a chap playing keyboards, but I don't know his name.

Pounding was the first song to greet us, and after a strange support act and a long wait, that crowd sure did come alive, at last!  Andy Williams blew me away.  No two ways about it, those drums were unbeatable (pardon the pun!).  I don't think I've ever known a guy beat the living crap out of his drums more than this man did.  It was like some kind of Zulu war dance or something.  It was primordial, euphoric and adrenalin-filled and I LIKE IT!!!

Another crowd pleaser followed with Here Comes The Fear, which ended with all three band members whacking hell out of a percussion instrument of some description!!  More euphoria Ladies and Gentlemen!!  Next came a song which, recorded, is one of my faves, but it didn't seem as strong live.  Sea Song.  It was, don't get me wrong, still a strong song, but the guitar work that's so clear recorded seemed to be lost in the mix somehow.  All my favourites just kept coming after this though, Rise, Catch The Sun, Satellites; and Words was amazing with Jez on vocals.  The Man Who Told Everything was an impressive improvement on the recorded version - much more powerful and vital, as was, a few songs later, New York which brought the roof off the place, I'm sure!

The next time the crowd really lost it was for Caught By The River - I believe this is one of the most played of their singles to date - certainly gets a lot of time on MTV2, and it was no disappointment this night.

Another main attraction that Doves have, in my view, are their instrumental songs - Firesuite was the song to open up the encore and I was just lost in music heaven.  Then Andy came to the front of the stage, Jimi went and sat on the drums and we were treated with Here It Comes, which has a kicky back beat and a fresh voice behind it - I love that they are so multitalented.  Each song has it's own style and sound because they can swap and change ideas.  The show then closed with an old dancey song from their Sub-Sub days, called Spaceface.  On went the strobes, and they did a rocked up version of the song, it worked amazingly - it was hypnotic, and once again I was lost in the music - marvellous!

Click here for the official Doves web site.