DrugDealer CheerLeader @ The Portman, Bournemouth
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7.5 |
Editor review
Having put two singles out over the last few months, and a new album due very soon, Drugdealer Cheerleader had promised that the setlist for their warm up gig at The Portman in Bournemouth was to be full of tracks off the bands debut album, most of which had never been performed live before.
The band swaggered onto stage to an intro that sounded oddly familiar, and I'm sure the band are gonna love fielding questions about where exactly they got it from over the next few months, they launched full swing into the rock and roll debauchery that is DDCL, among the opening tracks their first of the two singles I Don't Wanna Go To School, which while more poppy than the majority of their material really helped to get the crowd moving, along with the anthemic, and patriotic, Britain's Great.
The crowd were enthusiastic, if not particularly mobile, but if you watched a video of the show you'd never have known it. Frontman Hilda prowled the stage, the floor, the chairs and anywhere else he felt like, leaped around like a lunatic, moshed, the epitome of a true rock and roll frontman, while behind him, the band were tight as ever.
It's always hard getting the crowd really going with so much new material being played, but the banter between crowd and stage came thick and fast, no less during the announcement of "LMFAO", DDCL's brand new tribute to the pettiness of MySpace, and the extended birthday speech when congratulations were given just before they launched into the ballad "Summertime", complete with lighters in the air from the crowd.
It was lowkey, fun, and you can just see when a band is having fun, and pulling the Birthday girl up on stage as a special guest Cheerleader for the encore, made her night, got a rousing ovation from the crowd, and typified what may be a unique gig with the DDCL star aimed firmly upwards over the next few months.
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| Overall rating: |
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7.5 |
| Performance: |
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8.0 |
| Sound: |
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7.0 |
| Crowd Response: |
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7.0 |
| Overall: |
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8.0 |
Reviewed by Mike Elliott
June 23, 2007
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