Set 2 list only, above...
Another
band scratching that reunion itch, 90’s Boston dreampop/ college rock combo
Belly reunited after a near 20-year absence in 2016, delivering a fine if
technically-beset Bristol gig (gig 997) and a tough, road-tested slot at Boston’s
Paradise Club for the ACLU show last March (gig 1,028). Laudably, and like
recent hosts The Skids, they decided not to stop there, avoiding becoming
another “nostalgia circuit” cliché (not that there’s anything wrong with that,
if you’re into the music!) by recording a PledgeMusic-backed new album, “Dove”.
I pledged, of course, and my signed copy duly arrive in the post a couple of
months back; it’s fine, I guess, a bit Belly-by-numbers and, well, drippy, more akin to the more ephemeral
and insubstantial pop of main Belly-person Tanya Donelly’s sophomore solo album
“Beautysleep” than the more strident and hooky college pop of her solo debut
“Lovesongs For Underdogs” or indeed Belly’s own early 90’s canon. Still,
remembering how fulsome newie “Shiny One” sounded at the Paradise last March, I
was hoping that the new material would stand pat “live”, along with the older
stuff, so I was happy to book for another Belly experience!
Booked
2 tickets, but Rach bowed out late due to babysitting issues; Ady was happy to
take up the offer of a free ticket, and “Beef”, Si and his friend Mel were
going anyway, so a full carload drove down a sunny M4 early doors. Belly were
threatening to be on straight away and play 2 hours+ with an interval, hence
the haste! In reality, we were there for doors at 7, then got drinks in and
took a spot down the front, house right, chatting with the boys and a passing
Jeff to while away the time until Belly’s actual scheduled 8.15 start.
At
the appointed hour, a cutesy little film of dogs on skateboards (!) projected
onto the digital backdrop; then Belly took the stage, bassist Gail already
happily filming the audience, before kicking into the distinctive bass growl of
a dark, dramatic “Dusted”. Good start, but unfortunately not maintained, the
subsequent “Seal My Fate” sounding distorted and disjointed, guitarist Tom
Gorman sounding as if he were playing a different tune to the rest of the band.
Such
was the way of things tonight; despite their best efforts (particularly from
Gail, the snake hipped, Ramones-like low-slung self-confessed “old lady” of the
crew, who with her urgent bass prompting and kinetic rock poses was nonetheless
clearly the band’s MVP tonight), and a whole lot of band and audience
interaction (particularly - again - from Gail, who regularly urged us to, “party
like it's 1992! Or 3...” and never missed an opportunity to take pics or videos
of the crowd), this wasn’t Belly at their best. Maybe a little unfamiliarity
with the dynamics of the new material “live”, maybe just too early in the tour,
but either way they rarely hit the heights of that Boston set last year. “Now
They'll Sleep” exemplified this, sounding problematic and messy. Also, Tanya
seemed to struggle with the higher-octave numbers, often not even bothering to
push her voice that high. Newies “Army Of Clay” and a groovy, bouncy “Stars
Align” emerged most unscathed and were highlights of the early set, before the
nonetheless ebullient bassist “Gail-splained” to us about the mid-set break.
Happily,
things picked up a little better for set 2; “Low Red Moon” was a strange and sinister
funeral March, and “Shiny One” dreamy and strident in equal measure. “Slow Dog”
galloped along with its trademark angular verse riff, but again Tanya’s vocals
for the chorus were in a different key and sounded a little jarring. After
another messy “Feed The Tree”, we however had an excellent “SuperConnected”, a
dynamically delivered growling behemoth, and by some considerable distance the
best number in the set tonight.
A
couple of quieter encores, featuring our MVP’s only real slip tonight,
praising, “the lovely people of Portsmouth!” (that was last night, love!),
ended a veritable see-saw of a set - some splendid moments, plenty of effort
and chat from the band, but a set littered with flaws. Our carload were all
pretty much in consensus with this view, so reflected on this on a swift dash
home (which got me back in in time to flick through tonight’s Canadian Grand
Prix before hitting the hay). Don’t get me wrong; this was by no means a Brian
Fallon-level utter car crash of a gig (gig 1,074, back in Feb this year), I had
a good time, I was largely entertained by the band and by my mad-as-a-balloon
MVP Gail. I’ve just seen them way better, way tougher, way more together... and
all that quite recently too. Hopefully tonight was a one-off; I’ll certainly be
back for more, hoping again for the Paradise version of Belly from last year!
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