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| New York Dolls Peaches Belfast, Botanic Gardens Wednesday 25th August 2004 It's been the monsoon season over here lately, there's been endless rain it seems for weeks! What happened to those balmy sunburned summer days of long ago that I remember? Or is it just those rose tinted sunglasses again? It's really not festival weather or is it? Only the day before looking at yet another torrential downpour I was thinking this show was probably a good idea about 9 months ago. But tonight against the odds and acts of god the Botanic Gardens are surprisingly bathed in sunshine, but underneath they are still a swamp covered in corrogated plastic and injury inducing foam rubber. So here I am once again to see the Dolls. And yet again joined by my trusty sidekick and 10 year old son Steven. Himself a veteran of two Dolls shows already. We are out for a night of sleazy rock'n'roll. And there never was a truer word spoken in Peaches case, as it turned out. Yeah the New York Dolls in Belfast in 2004 weird or what? As Peter DC said recently..."Dolls gigs are like buses, you wait for 27 years for one then a whole bunch of them arrive at once!" A mixed bag bill here tonight, the White Stripes are headlining, but I wanna see Peaches who was most recently seen killing zombies in the 'kick i'" video with Iggy. She should spice up the evening getting dirrrrty with her lewd, crude, rude and sexy act. And the main event for me those trash city rockers of course. There's no way the Dolls show tonight is gonna have the impact on me that the Royal Festival Hall, London gigs had back in June (reviewed elsewhere on the site). But it's great to see the band rejuvenated after recent tragedies (after the Killer passing away in July) and getting back on the stage to honour their commitments. Deepdown I hate these festivals. They are just a big rip-off sponsered by multinationals, where you pay big bucks to stand in a soaking wet field watching bands who are miles away. And your expected to pay top dollar for everything and be grateful for the privilage! Well fuck that, but sometimes when that special band is on the bill you have to make the effort and put your reservations to one side and attend reluctantly. That's the one reason I'm here tonight, I wanna see the New York Dolls live one more time, because they're worth it! |
| I didn't even try to make it on time for Desert Hearts and Blanche, but Peaches entered the fray with no announcement or fanfare, just a loud blast of synth noise and there she was, hairy armpits and all on stage. She set her stall out straight from the off. Her set was made up of foottappers like 'Shake your dix', 'AA / XXX', 'I Don't Give A Fuck' etc. She was accompanied throughout by two very scarey 7 ft + trannies with stick on beards and a variety of S/M outfits. They had all the attatchments "you get my drift" during her 30 min orgy of electro bump and grind. With an added mean basic punk one string guitar playing. |
| Constant sexual simulation and repetitive synth bleeps do lose their appeal after a while. And by her last song and her anthem 'Fuck The Pain Away', complete with fake blood spitting on the front row, she left the stage with the Gary Glitter chorus chant of "Do ya wanna touch me" playing over the P.A . Peaches songs are not great and easily forgotten. Bar the graphic lyrical content your unlikly to be humming any of her tunes on the way home. On the other hand you'll not forget the stage show in a hurry. Tongue 'n' cheek or some other orifice, or at least I think it is, over the top, designed to shock and it does what it says on the tin. I'm sure Belfast has seen nothing like it before, well not onstage in the middle of a field in broad daylight anyway. In a club gig situation she would be in her element. |
| There's nothing more can I say about the New York Dolls that I haven't said in the past. They are heroes of mine and I can't believe I've seen the current versions live twice in the last three months. I never expected to see them at all ever!!! As dark clouds darkened the previously blue sky we took our positions at the very front of the stage. Sean O'Neill 'Spit' book co/author had just joined us as the Dolls made a low key entrance onto the stage and to a polite reception from a youngish audience who didn't really know who they were, apart from from the die hards and clued up older punters. Before the music got underway David Johansen paid a heartfelt tribute on behalf of the band by reading a passage from a book and dedicating the show to the recently departed Arthur 'Killer' Kane. 'Looking for a kiss' kicked of the scaled down festival sized set in rousing style. I love this song it does it for me everytime I hear it. As always with a Dolls show the setlist for me is packed with highlights but 'Babylon' (during which Sylvain pointed over at Steven pressed against the security barrier watching, he was well pleased and waved back). 'Trash', 'Mystery girls' and 'Jetboy' were especially good. Sammy Yaffa from one of my favourite bands from the 80's Hanoi Rocks has stepped into the breech to take up the bass duties. He fitted in perfectly, looked the part and did a fantastic job. This new Dolls line up (David Johansen vocals, Sylvain Sylvain guitar, Steve Conti guitar, Sammy Yaffa bass, Brian Konine piano and musical director!! plus I think Brian Mulcahy on drums. "Another Irish bastard via somewhere in the USA" as Johansen jokeingly put it, are so good playing together that it makes me think that they are gonna be around for a while yet. Though I hope Sylvain and Johansen phase out the well rehearsed camp humour and the St Johns wart/depression skit, which were the same routines word for word tonight as they were in London in June. It's funny the first couple of times but please drop it before it gets boring or at least change the comedy material now and again. Mid-show after explaining his claim to be Irish via an incident between his mother and a viking hence the name. David Johansen was roll calling the ex-members of the band who have passed on... Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan, Billy 'Doll' Murcia and Arthur Kane, when some dickhead beside me shouted out "who the fuck are they?" I felt like smacking him in the mouth but I settled for elbowing him hard in the ribs the twat (sniggering - PDC). Roughly an hour from the start 'Personality crisis' brought a frantic end to another great show and a very positive response from the won over audience . As they were leaving the stage we could see David Johansen wrapped in a towel through the backstage gate and Steven again shouted over to Sylvain who gave him a friendly wave, nice unpretentious guy. Next day Bill and Hillary Clinton were in town and the local news were covering a press conference outside the Europa hotel when the report suddenly namechecked the New York Dolls and showed David Johansen standing amongst the onlookers in skinny fit leather bomber jacket shades and a cigarette hanging from his lips, chatting up two girls looking every inch the rock star he undoubtably is, mainstream recognition at last. Come back soon! Joe Donnelly Belfast 27/ 8/ 04. |
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