Will Roberts
As a child I always missed out on the crazes. When I got my first shell suit people were into Kickers. I finally got a Gameboy when people had moved on to Playstations. So I’m over the moon to be finally up to date by having my own blog.
A Dodgy night
Everyone should be able to remember their first ever album.
I like to tell people mine was REM's Automatic For The People, so I give the impression that even as a 10-year-old, I could spot an album that would do well.
Technically it was my first ever album, but it was bought for me for Christmas by my mum on a two-for-one in the local supermarket. My sister got the other album - Tina Turner. Just think what I would have turned out like if I was given that.
I don't often mention the first tape album I ever bought. Chaka Demus and Pliers tends to leave people a bit cold.
Now, the first CD album I bought is a memorable one. I was lured into parting with my hard-earned pocket money purely by the genius (or so it seemed as a 12-year-old) of its title.
I got a lot of pleasure out of Dodgy's Free Peace Sweet. However, it seems that I was in the minority, and the band lived up to their name, never to return.
That is, until last Friday night in Darlington, when Dodgy hopped on the reunion tour bandwagon and played a gig at Inside Out.
Like most of the other 200-or-so who turned up to see them, I went purely for nostalgic reasons; to see a band which sparked memories of 90s pop-rock. I had a vision in my mind of how I remembered them, beach-blonde scruffy hair, young, full of life.
So I was a bit shocked when I first laid eyes on the new mature, Dodgy. The lead singer had lost his hair but found a couple of extra stone.
I was later to find out that the lead singer's name was Nigel. I'm no expert in this field, but I would have thought that if ever there was a case to join the likes of Bono, the Edge and Slash and give yourself a rock star stage name, it would be if your name is Nigel.
The drummer, who admittedly was never the pin-up in the band, now looked like Russell Grant.
They looked old. They looked like they had dragged themselves out of middle-aged routine to make one final buck on the back of their collection of hits. Who would blame them?
I also have to mention the most pathetic stage-crasher from the crowd I have ever seen. The girl joined the band for the encore, before realising that she didn't actually know the song they were singing, so turned and faced the back of the stage. After hearing the heckles from the crowd she took evasive action. That's right, she did the robot dance.
If in doubt, do the robot dance. Wise words indeed.
6:06pm Wednesday 26th March 2008
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