Issue 43 / April 2014

26
Bido Lito! April 2014
YELLOWMAN
Dillinger – The Sagittarius Band
Oyé Touring & Trading @ District
are essentially Strypes-lite, with the same suitedand-booted
aesthetic of the headliners, along
with their blues-infused rock sound. Hell, they're
even from the same country. Nevertheless, songs
like Badboy court nods of approval from the
clusters of fans in the audience. Frontman Luke
McLaughlin enthusiastically belts out the band's
tunes with fervour but the songs teeter on the
cusp of sameyness. However, what The Turning
lack in variety they make up for in consistency of
quality, with closer Monkey Business picking up
the pace once again with a strong bassline and
more hooks than a pirate convention.
The Strypes’ singer Ross Farrelly arrives
nonchalantly, hurling the mic about like
a younger, scrubbed-up Robert Plant. The
caterwauling harmonica intro to She's So Fine
fanfares the band’s entrance to the stage where
they proceed to deliver a relentless barrage of
songs of the classic blues rock persuasion. The
last time The Strypes rolled through town was
in support of Arctic Monkeys and, unfortunately
on that occasion, they came across as slightly
underwhelming. It’s a different story tonight,
with the four-piece on top form, haranguing and
clambering over the audience, who love every
second of it.
It's true in a way that The Strypes and their ilk
simply pander to the stale dregs of rockism; they
sound exactly like your dad's record collection
and are essentially just a bunch of teenagers
playing rock ‘n’ roll. Don't you have to pay your
The Strypes (Stuart Moulding / @oohshootstu)
dues to play the blues, or something like that,
man? But to say that is to miss the point. No,
you won't find anything new or ground-breaking
here, but that's doesn’t bother anyone in EVAC
tonight. Looking around the venue, there's not
a foot in the house that isn't tapping and nary a
head that isn't bobbing as the band run through
riff-rock winners like Ooh Poo Pah Doo, Concrete
Jungle and Mystery Man.
It's easy to wax philosophical about the
nature of music and art and what it represents,
but that's not what The Strypes are about. They're
about no-pretence good-time rock ‘n’ roll. What
is music supposed to be if not entertaining, and
this band sure as hell are.
Ryan McElroy
In Liverpool, a city where the demand for
African-Caribbean music far outweighs the
supply, you can expect a sizable turnout
whenever one of the greats come to town.
It is therefore no surprise to see District
brimming tonight as it awaits the arrival of
two of Jamaica’s finest toasters: YELLOWMAN
and DILLINGER. Famed as heavyweights of
dancehall – reggae’s bastard son – the duo
gained much notoriety in the late 1970s as their
controversial lyrics and rub-a-dub riddims took
hold of Jamaica’s soundsystems.
As always, Oyé Touring & Trading have
attracted a diverse cross-section of the city to the
surprisingly charming Baltic Triangle warehouse.
With a pungent aroma of Caribbean cuisine in
the air, the warmly lit space – furnished with
plants, candles and tribal masks – has a real
festival cheer to it as the smiley-faced revellers
await the arrival of the two dancehall dons.
Predictably, the duo leave the crowd waiting
but this does little to dampen the mood as
selectors Lord Borthbury and K Marley J keep the
party alight with a rock-steady selection of dusty
classics and modern-day covers.
The four-piece SAGITTARIUS BAND are the
first to take to the stage and treat the audience
to a bass-heavy dub instrumental before
soundtracking Dillinger’s arrival with a painfully
wonky riddim. Garbed in a white trilby, shades
and a shirt that might possibly have been
fashionable at some point in the 1970s, the
infamous toaster wastes no time in hyping up
the already boisterous crowd.
Showing exactly why he rose to such
prominence, Dillinger owns every inch of the
stage and keeps the crowd fixated on his every
move until he disappears behind the speakers.
Finishing his set with Cocaine In My Brain,
the living legend seems to be drawing from a
newfound energy reserve and leads the baying
crowd nicely to the next act.
Little time is wasted before Yellowman arrives
onstage to a sea of jubilation. The lanky albino
vocalist has an endearing quality that makes
him universally loveable. Despite the fact
that he is old enough to qualify for a free bus
pass, the king of dancehall acts as though he
is still in his prime, pogoing away to bangers
like Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt and
Zungguzungguguzungguzeng.
The idiosyncratic master provides plenty of
lighters in the air moments as he continues
through hits like Blueberry Hill, before finishing
with a rendition of Take Me Home, Country
Roads. With a salute, Yellowman retreats, having
reaffirmed that the doors of the dancehall are
always open to new adherents.
Josh Ray / @Josh5446Ray
bidolito.co.uk