Danko Jones Tour 2006
As I walk up to The Wedgewood Rooms I'm slightly concerned that there's not a queue outside, whenever I've been there before it's always stretched down the road and around the next corner. When I get inside there's a few people milling around, but the place is practically empty.
By the time the first band comes on at 8.30 there are probably about 100 people in the venue tops; usually the place is packed out. Voicst is the first act of the night, the come out on stage with practically no reaction from the crowd, just a few claps here and there, although to be honest the band weren't much better themselves after three songs they decided to introduce themselves, although you could barely make out what they were saying. This was the same during their set, I couldn't understand what the singer; Tjeerd Bomhof was saying it just sounded muffled, although to be fair to him he did have an amazing talent of playing guitar with a beer bottle.
The bassist; Sven Woodside didn't really seem to fit the look of the band, it was like they had grabbed a random chav of the street and pulled him up onstage. Both Bomhof and Woodside seemed to love their 'Busted jumps'. The best thing about this band was their drummer; Joppe Molenaar, who did a nice little drum solo and was the highlight of what otherwise, seemed to be a poor set.
Tokyo Dragons come on at 9:15, by this time the crowd was easily five times the size it was earlier, and it seems clear that the majority of people were there to see them. When they came out on stage there was a much better reception and the interacted with the crowd straight away, and this time there was actually movement from the crowd when the were playing whereas before everyone just seem to stare blankly. Musically they were much stronger and tighter than Voicst. Bassist; Mathias Stady was amazing and it was nice to hear the bass so clearly for a change, in some cases it seemed like he was leading the rest of the band. Vocally Steve Lomax was much clearer than Bomhof, and made sure there was plenty of interaction with the crowd throughout their 30-minute set. Tokyo Dragons had a really good exit piece, which gave everyone a chance to showcase their talents, as there was short, but good solos from each of them. The crowd did cheer for an encore but obviously with them being a support act that didn't happen.
By the time Danko Jones came on at 10:15 the crowd had halved in size, but never the less there was a good build up while the band came on and there too had a good reception from the crowd, with lots of movement and dancing as soon as they started to play. Although the vocals seemed to be over powered by the drums. Danko Jones himself seemed quite scary, he had a look of a mad man about him I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him and I'm actually a tad worried about writing anything bad about the band incase he hunts me down and kills me when he's next in Portsmouth, but the truth prevails in the end. Jones came across as extremely big headed and egotistical which for some reason the crowd seem to love, but in my book comparing yourself to Hendrix, Ray Charles and Johnny Cash is not a good move.
Slightly more worrying he seemed to love it when a group of sweaty lads went topless although not enough for him to strip himself, which he got booed for. Then we get to bassist John "JC" Calabrese, who has got to be the worlds most boring band member, he barely moved and didn't seem to be putting any effort into the show. But to be fair to them all they did look very dapper in their matching black shirts, trousers and sweat bands, they gave a consistent level of energy and there was lots of interaction with the crowd throughout their set, and the audience seemed to love them.