Starting a little delayed, the evening began with a set from The Fruit Cellar (pictured left), who hadn’t played together up until the night before the gig. Despite this, their set was tight, given that their songs are based on catchy hooks and, by helping the crowd sing along by telling them the lyrics beforehand, they proved to be a great opening act.
After a short break, Dance, Barry, Dance took to the stage, who are one of the most consistent and entertaining bands in Southampton. To begin with the crowd was sluggish, but playing the energetic and shouty ‘Fine, Fine Barmaid’, a song very much in the Frank Turner mold, they got the crowd moving. Coupled with some on stage banter which was very much controlled by front man Chris Dale, their set was very enjoyable. The reggae inspired ‘Henry VIII’ and rocky ‘My Nan Is A Pirate’ rounded off their set, leaving just the DGE left to play.
The ‘Experience This!’ EP
The David Gilani Experience took to the stage with the opener from their EP, the piano driven ‘I Hate Everything About You’. That said, they failed to capture the attention of the crowd with it – their second song ‘Rihanna Medley’ went down much better, and got the crowd laughing which is pretty essential for a comedy band. The set then continued without much incident, although ‘Cobras’- the Egyptian inspired love song – was performed particularly well. Two new songs came after this, the latter of which ‘Is That Your Love, Dave?’ – anchored by Pusey on guitar and Leane on bass – was a refreshing change of pace. Finishing on ‘So Much Loving in the Room Tonight’, the whole night finished on an upbeat and comic note, fitting for the launch of the DGE’s EP Experience This!
