While it was perhaps a touch disconcerting
to see one of the UK’s leading dub/ska exponents of the past two decades - and
a frequent festival headliner - play its first ever Wellington gig to a half
empty venue, the up side was that it felt a little bit more like a private
party. And the band, which was passing through the capital on route to yet
another Splore appearance, sure as hell weren’t going to let a relatively small
turnout get in the way of a good party.
So those of us who did turn up - an eclectic
mix of cockney geezer types and curious locals (stereotyping alert, but an
awful lot of hands went in the air when there was a shout out for fellow
Londoners) - were treated to what amounted to a virtual “greatest hits” set
from the band’s handful of albums and a few covers.
From where I stood, with my head-bobbing
sway never quite morphing into a fully committed boogie (to the relief of all
those around me, surely), the setlist highlights were the few tunes I was most
familiar with, including intoxicating takes on better known tracks like ‘Boom’,
‘Sticky Situation’, and an especially raucous cover of Stranglers’ standard
‘Peaches’.
Vocal duo Barry Ashworth and Seanie Tee
owned the stage every step of the way, with each man clearly feeding off the
vibe of the other. The band itself was on form and always tight, and the
inevitable presence of a room-filling brass man ensured there was a full and
funky sound throughout.
It may have been that the $60-odd ticket
price was considered too steep for a gig some might have regarded as little
more than a Splore warm-up set, or it could have been that Cate Le Bon at Meow
turned out to be Wellington’s premier Friday night drawcard, but given the
terrific show put on by the Dub Pistols on the night, the smallish crowd at San
Fran was especially hard to fathom. One thing seems certain: all those present
got their money’s worth and more.
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