Live: Doves, The Forum 09/10/09
‘Friday night, fuck it, let’s have it!’ proclaims lead singer Jimi Goodwin
as he takes a sip of lager from a plastic cup. It’s in this moment that Doves kick off their first tour in four years at the new music venue in the University of Hertfordshire. The sticky floors were the setting for tonight, as the Auditorium was filling up with middle agers who have been with Doves since the beginning and students seeing what the new Forum was about.
Doves are not the most charismatic band, but Jimi did have a Beyonce moment when he shouted that he wanted orange towels, not the pink ones that he was given. The smoke lined set began with haunted performances of ‘Winter Hill’ and ‘Words’ with the crowd nodding with agreement. They look very happy to be here, chugging through their Kingdom of Rust album with care and attention. A third of the way through the hour and half set, the expensive larger starts to kick in and the crowd goes crazy for ‘Jetstream’ and erupts to a full sing a long in the title track ‘Kingdom of Rust’ singing it from their hearts. The long time fans have not been left out, as they perform their classic hits such as ‘Ambition’ and ‘Black and White’ which gains a standing ovation from students and hardcore Doves fans alike.
What Jimi and co seem to love the most is guitar solos with Jimi teaming up with his bandmate Jez for 40 manic seconds (yes, I counted) on ‘Cedar Room’. The band went off-stage for two minutes and the crowd chanted ‘DOVES DOVES’ until Andy Williams came on stage and sang for the encore which included a twin cowbell and drum solo in their final song of the evening, ‘The Fear’ with the crowd singing along. It may have turned a few drunk students into Doves fans, but their act is more suited to big stadium venues such as Wembley than small student ones, such as the venue they played here. But the crowd aren’t complaining, they are well and truly ‘having it’.
Solmaz Farad
