Doves – In concert from Rock City, Nottingham – 2002 – BBC In Concert Series –
Doves to end the week. The popular Alt/Indie band who got started in 1991 as a school dance band known as Sub Sub and graduated to more serious endeavors as Doves in 1998, have had a good long run. With some 4 albums, an equal number of compilation albums, a half-dozen eps and a string of singles to their credit. Doves have enjoyed a good amount of popularity in the UK, with two albums hitting Number one of the album charts and the rest hitting the top 10.
Whey they have put it on hiatus, at the peak of their success boils down to a simple case of exhaustion and turning what they into a grind. As bass player Jimi Goodwin told The Daily Record in an interview from 2010; “”It’s nice just to have a bit of breathing space… We just wanted to get off that whole album-tour-album-tour treadmill. None of us are ready to face going into the studio for another two years. This is wiping the slate clean, we have nothing else in the vaults now. That is it. Whatever we do from now on will be a new start.”
Fair enough. Can’t say as I blame them – we’ve seen too many bands get caught up in the grind and wind up becoming parodies of themselves over time (I can think of a few larger-than-life bands guilty of that). Leave the audience wanting more and resume when you’re rested and full of new ideas.
This concert comes around the time of their second album, The Last Broadcast and was part of the tour promoting it. This was their first album to hit Number 1 – so the band is psyched and giving it that extra boost of energy that only comes when you know for sure the audience likes you. No question of that.
Hopefully Doves will get back to work at some point – at the moment, the Williams Brothers are in the midst of a side project and forming a new band, Black Rivers. While bassist Jimi Goodwin has joined up with Elbow. So anything can (and usually does) happen. For now, here’s a reminder of a band taking it to the next level.
Play loud.
