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| New York Dolls Humanzi The Village, Dublin 20th October 2006 Sometimes in life things turn out to be much better than you could have expected and tonights NYD gig in Dublin was one of those nights. I'd travelled down from Belfast for the show in this modern club venue which had a low stage plus no barrier between the band and the audience, plus the no smoking ban in the south meant you could breath without choking on someone's cigarette poison. Things were already looking good! Disappointingly the Towers Of London were not the support band for this gig but we got a great replacement in Irish urchins Humanzi. Now I'd never heard of them previously but they made their presence felt immediately when the drummer began to thrash his kit with some vigour on the completely dark stage scaring the shit out of the crowd standing around chatting. I thought he was a roadie fucking about until the rest of the band kicked in to their opener 'Get Your Shit Together'. Next up was another cracker 'Do It Again' then another 'Get Used To It'. Humanzi are young, cocky and full of attitude. They know their rock star poses already and they have the songs to back up the self confidence. They thanked the Dolls then admitted to robbing them or just borrowing the groove for their song 'What A Shame'. Two or three songs more including 'Fix The Cracks' then they finished having won over a much older audience than they are probably used to playing for. These upstarts must be contenders for the next big thing to blast out of Dublin, they are very good indeed! I look forward to catching them again somewhere sometime . Anticipation was high, the black and lipstick red Dolls backdrop and the luminous pink and green feather boa's have been there tempting us all evening. Everyone moved a few steps closer to the edge of the stage when bang on 9.30pm a guy walked up to the mic to announce..."Ladies and Gentlemen the New York Dolls". On they came as casually as you like (no nerves here). They took up their positions onstage as David Johansen started the intro to 'Looking For A Kiss' and they were off and running. I couldn't believe it! I was within touching distance of greatness, they were just an arms length away from me, I was awestruck. For the next 90 minutes they cherry picked their way through timeless classics from those two revered LP's from so long ago and tracks from the latest album. The new stuff fitted in pretty well. Sami Yaffa's 'We're All In Love' was good, but it was 'Dance Like A Monkey' especially or the "mousey song" as wannabe Dubliner Sylvain called it that has already become a fan favourite going by the audience reaction when it was played. I've never seen a band enjoy each others company so much onstage, they were laughing and joking with each other and with the shellshocked audience who couldn't believe their luck getting this close to legends. The king of misery Morrissey was there standing like Ceasar dead centre in the middle of the VIP balcony lording it over everyone as 'his' band played. Bronagh Gallagher (actress) from the Commitments was also there. The Dolls tore through a manic version of 'Pills' during which David Johansen lost his voice and had to stop singing for a few minutes. As always dedications to Johnny Thunders ('Memory' /'Planet Boy') and Arthur 'Killer' Kane ('Private World') were made. But there was no mention of Jerry Nolan which was strange? As the show progressed the sound quality was taking a turn for the worst it was getting pretty bad as 'Jetboy' was turned into a buzzing feedback drenched mud covered psychedelic freakout, which is not how this classic song should sound. It was a bad way to finish an exciting set at this point. Thankfully they redeemed themselves and returned for the encores of 'Personality Crisis' with David adding a comic touch when he joked that "these guys usually go back stage now , shoot up and pass out after that tune", before the Dolls kicked into 'Gotta Getaway'. It was absolutely fantastic, then after an onstage group hug they were gone! It was an amazing gig. I never expected to be standing right next to Steve Conte watching him do his best Thunders poses up close (plus he's a shit hot guitarist) for the whole show. This show was a real fluke for me I was very lucky. I never expected to get this close to one of my all time favourite bands. The Dolls these days are a very tight band and are doing a fine job of keeping the legend alive. The new guys are great replacements. They look the part and play fantasticly well, though Brian Konin was missing tonight. This show had the sense of ocassion of a secret gig not a full on Dolls show. There were mistakes but nothing major. It definitely wasn't a highly polished affair like the Meltdown reformation shows. The band were very loose and relaxed, probably I imagine a lot like the original era line up would have been live. This felt like a one off. I doubt there will be another show on the current UK tour like this. Fucking amazing is all I can say. The 225 mile round trip I made to attend was worth it. There is a god!!! Joe Donnelly - Belfast 21st October 2006 |
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