#19//The Drums//special guest Boy George//Roundhouse//London//Monday 27th February

There are a lot of bands that can claim to have played their first gig in the UK in front of 150 people in some shit hole in East London but there is only one band that can say that two of those 150 people were Morrisey and Boy George, That really is some praise to have those two musical heavyweights thinking you're good enough that they would come and check you out! 

Incidentally you can hear the influence of these two icons all over The Drums and when i say that i mean it as a massive compliment, Jonathan Pierce's vocal  delivery is pure dramatic Boy George, they both have voices that combine 60's soul diva's with a bit of Anthony Heggarty, the result is a very striking sound that is instantly recognisable. Also, boy, you can really tell The Drums love The Smiths. Not since the legendary Manchester band has anyone come close to perfecting the irony of tales of heartbreak, loss and despair set against pop hooks and melodies that are dreamy and floaty and jangly and impossible not to dance to, but The Drums do it to perfection, Moz would be proud! 

SET LIST

Best Friend 

Me And The Moon 

If He Likes It Let Him Do It 

Book Of Stories 

Money 

I Need Fun In My Life 

I Need A Doctor 

Book Of Revelation 

Forever And Ever Amen 

Let's Go Surfing 

Days 

How It Ended 

Down By The Water 

Encore:

Baby, That's Not The Point 

It Will All End In Tears 

The Future 

The Drums always put on great show, i remember being at Glastonbury during the last world cup, everyone was crammed into an area watching England vs Germany on the big screens, England did their usual and completely collapsed when it matters most, as the fourth German goal hit the back of the net every person there was pretty deflated and started to wander over to the John Peel tent where The Drums had just taken to the stage, 45 minutes later we were all feeling much better, the boys had put on a blistering show and had everyone buzzing, they are that kind of band, they have a feel good factor about them, anything that can get you over being stuffed by the Germans again is good right?
Tonight's show was a belter from start to finish, it didn't even matter that it hadn't sold out cos those that were there were really up for it, Jonathan was his usual animated self and has his camp version of Ian Curtis' dance moves down to a tee, the larger live band makes for a much bigger sound and the rest of the boys have really perfected their instruments now, i remember in the early days they could barley play and used a backing track! haha how did they get away with that?!
There were highlights dotted throughout the show with Days, Best friend and Forever and ever amen going down a treat but it was towards the end of the night that the really special moment came... totally out of the blue, the band introduced Boy George to the stage! He sang along with a couple of Drums tracks before he and Jonathan did an amazing duet on Culture Club classic Do you really want to hurt me, now George's voice is amazing but i was really impressed with how Jonathan held his own, the whole place erupted and it turned into a mass singalong, it was real 'i was there' moment and i feel very lucky to have witnessed it.
Wanna see it for yourself, follow this link to be taken straight to some youtube footage: http://youtu.be/QJOD6tUZH3w

NITTY GRITTY


Crowd: really good, really up for it, people on shoulders etc, decent.
Venue: Immense, The Roundhouse is one of the most special venues in the country.
Drinks, fair prices and good selection of wine, spirits and beers.
Did The Drums look cool or what? yeah they look great, bowl haircuts and varsity style clothes, American cool cats.

ACE FACE

Hannah Emmerson

Senior account exec, PR and marketing agency from Hertfordshire.

What did you think Han?

Top, top night, loved it, as if Boy George came out with them!!!

Who else are you loving right now?

Oh i'm into Love Ink, Broken bells, Band of skulls, Tribes, Sbtrkt and Black keys, i just saw Black keys in Berlin actually, they were great.

What gigs and fests do you have planned this year?

i'm going to SGP and Primavera festivals and i have Finley Quay, Whitest boy alive, Bombay bicycle club and the big olympics gig featuring Blur, New Order and The Specials.

Ah sweet, i'm going to those last two! see you there! Now Han finally what was the first ever gig you went to and what was the last tune that played on your Ipod???

First gig was Ladytron and the last tune i played was Eyes wide open by Gotye.

Cheers Han that's great. Next review i will be doing is WU LYF at Heaven but keep your eyes on the blog for many features coming up very soon.

Contact me on dannywoodlands@yahoo.co.uk