A staple of the British indie/alternative scene is back with one of his biggest tours yet. Following the immensely popular indie dance record, Allbarone, produced by Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence & The Machine), Baxter Dury is riding a huge wave of momentum.
Opening the show was up and coming artist, Joshua Idehen. Walking onto the stage to perform a longer-than-usual support set of forty five minutes, Idehen did a great job of turning the crowd into fans of his music. Naturally, the majority of people in the venue were here to see Baxter Dury but the growing crowd enjoyed Idehen’s enthralling social commentary with the set flying by and the crowd nicely warmed up on a cold Tuesday evening.
Up next, the main event, Mr Maserati himself, Baxter Dury took to the stage. Performing alongside his band and collaborator JGrrey, the crowd were ready for a huge show, and they got it. The dance tracks from the new record, Allbarone, were received exceptionally by the crowd. Allbarone is very different to Dury’s previous LPs with the bigger beats and disco synths, but it came across fantastic live.
Dury’s ‘dad dancing’ throughout the set makes for a fascinating watch, it’s evident that performing on stage is what he was born to do with Dury regularly prancing around the stage with all sorts of interesting dance moves. A vibrant lighting set helps add to the party atmosphere with this being particularly prevalent during tracks from Allbarone.
However older tracks such as Palm Trees, Cocaine Man, and Prince of Tears made for a nice contrast to the dancier anthems during the set. Both Dury and Jgrrey sounded immense and again, made for a great contrast with Dury’s rougher voice and Jgrrey’s angelic tones.
The iconic Miami was definitely one of the highlights of the set with lyrics of narcissism, unapologetic arrogance and one of the great opening lines of “I don’t think you realise how successful I am,” accompanied by a bassline that bounces around the room, getting one of the biggest responses from the crowd.
Toward the back end of the twenty song set, the Baxter Dury and Fred Again… collaboration, Baxter (these are my friends) finished the set with a bang with the whole room dancing along to the lyrics of ‘let’s dance again, shall we?’
It was a great night of alternative dance and indie music with Baxter Dury showcasing a new level despite being an established artist for over twenty years and Joshua Idehen announcing himself to a new audience. P.s. make sure to check out Allbarone, it’s a brilliant record. 9.5/10
