The evening kicked off with American-born, Glasgow based singer-songwriter Shoshana making a welcome re-appearance to Dundee. Seated in front of an appreciative audience, she began with one of her own songs as the trusty acoustic 6-string played drifting chords that got gradually stronger on a song that featured lots of rising and falling vocal to showcase the range of her voice. For the second track, she donned a 12-string acoustic and that stayed for the rest of the set. The song itself featured a powerful vocal over strummed guitar chords with a deep bass resonance running through it, adding depth and extra strength. The rich vocals glide with an unbroken grace, soar out at you with all the passion of a rock band, on a song that's got more than a touch of early Joni Mitchell to it, only substituting fragility for force. The voice is so rich, in tune, unfaltering and just so "professional" sounding with no hint of effort, sung with total confidence and conviction. The song itself was quite lengthy for an acoustic artist but held your attention throughout. The third track opened with a vocal that flies like a bird, strong and hypnotic as you hear it hit the heights with wemotion, then glide down with a brooding intensity. Once again, there's no particular hook or chorus and the Joni element is gone but the effect remains, unusual for songs that are more memorable because they're not the obvious sort of thing you'd expect from most acoustic singers. The quality of the vocal more than carries the performance, as use of light and shade wqithin the voice, mkaes things quite dramatic for an acoustic singer.
For the final two songs, she played a couple of covers, the first of which was Radiohead's "Lucky", not a song I knew, but came across as a soaring ballad with another dynamic vocal, initially built around the lower end of her range, but then rising up to take your breath away as that voice just soars from the PA with conviction. The final track was a Johnny Cash medley, as befits, a more uptempo section with a decidedly country tinge to the delivery, and this time songs full of hooks, carried off with ease and sitting neatly alongside the earlier originals for wholly different reasons, showing she can "do" commercial as effortlessly and successfully as the mesmerising originals. The overall performance of this track would not have sounded out of place had it been on Grateful Dead's "Workingman's Dead" album, and that's no small measure of its brilliance. A great set from a superb singer.
The Final Stand took the stage, and immediately opened with a songs where the main figure is an almost military-sish bent to the rhythm as the trio provides a mix of indie and rock wrapped up in a commercial coat, with a female lead vocal that just hammers out of the speakers as the bass hits you square in the gut, the guitar fuzzed right up nad the drums driving it all forward. The second track was a powerful glide with a beefy rhythm from the bass and drums, the bass right upfront and flowing as a solid wall of rhythm guitar over the staccato rhythms heralds a jaw-droppingly powerful vocal, moving effortlessly from verse to chorus to propel the track along. "Changes" opens with strummed guitar as the vocal moves into range and what should be a ballad, becomes a towering vocal delivery that commands your attention as the rhythm section enter to take the song into a more anthemic AOR styled territory, a huge hook to the song itself, rising up as the track becomes one of those lighters-in-the-air, arms waving type of tracks so beloved of bands that sell out stadiums, altogether one of the most moving indie-rock ballads of its type. Two further originals are performed eqaually as magically, with the powerful vocals set against choppy then flowing rhythms as the mixc of gliding verses and towering choruses now have you carried along completely in their wake. The sixth track opens with ringing guitar chords laden with fuzz, strummed bass and a vocal that's, initially, quite restrained, but leading thorugh emotion to wrought with conviction, full of passion and slowly intensifying as the drums come in, the bass powers out and the riff turns into another choppy section, as the expansive sounding vocal delivers a huge chorus that's totally got you under its spell, the whole thing engulfing you in a gloriously driving sea of mesmerising vocal, fuzz rhythm guitar, solid drums and towering powerhouse bass. "The Final Stand" is a brooding monster that opens in a hail of power chords as the strong vocal moves the verses into this mighty hook of a chorus that's unbelievably insistent as you move whichever part of you it hits first!! There's a huge anthemic rock sensibility to what is essentially commercial indie-pop, all the time leaving you in awe of its performance and delivery. "Blue Horizon" starts at mid-pace before powering up into this spirited slice of train-like pace and intensity, the vocal becoming ever more pwoerful ad the trio whip up a storm, and as throughout, the guitarist and bassist move around the stage so much so that you can tell they are putting everything they've eot into this performance. The penultimate song is a real, heartfelt ballad with a gorgeous cyclical chorus, while the set ends with the incredible intensity and mesmerising flow that is "Rain", the hook so simple yet swirling around your head for ages after, the sign of a truly monumental song.
Dirty Deeds headlined. A trio from Aberdeen, they immediately hit the spot with a a song introduced by a driving riff with this searing bluesy guitar lead over the top before heading out into a riff-laden maelstrom as the urgent driving rhythm backs a solid vocal which then leads into a sea of dual vocals as the bassist and guitarist deliver the swong with depth, texture and strength, the song full of fast-paced hooks, taken at breakneck speed, putting you immediately in mind of a band the quality of Beatnic Prestige at their finest, only with the added value of a red hot lead guitarist in a seriously tight mix of indie, rock, country and blues, a truly superb opener. The second track opens with rinigng guitar chords, a deep river of bass, more emotive dual lead vocals set in a kind of yearning, pleading mode before thw whole thing powers into a quite uplifting song that veers between brooding verse intensity and hi-flying chorus, as more lead guitar fires up on a break that really takes hold. The drums power ahead as the song twists and turns, never losing its swing and potency, choppy, flowing and hugely expansive at the same time, the dual vocals unforgettable. "Hotel" is also taken at an urgent pace but such an addictive song that it can't fail to have you hooked as the dual vocals fly along like a bullet-train, all incredibly harmonious with not a touvh of anything ragged yet so pwerful at the same time. A fast moving tidal wave of surging guitar, solid driving beats and deep thunderous bass. Another short burst of lead guitar, back into the song - and it's over. The next track is not quite as fast with more attentio to dynamics, but not far off, as another stunning performance comes from the singers amid a blast of rhythmic urgency and guitar fire, this time echoing a much speedier version of Val Verde or Alto Elite.
The fifth track features a huge thunderous intro as almost native American sounding drums announce the towering dual vocals on a song that's as vast as it is amazing, the vocals erupting from the PA in magnificent clarity over the driving drums, choppy bass and ringing sea of guitar. This all leads headlong into a searing guitar break as the track then returns to its fiery thunder of rich sounding vocals and expansive, hard-driving beats along with the guitar riffing, all of which adds up to an absolute belter of a song, one you want to hear all over again, the moment it's over.The next two tracks continue their, by now, trademark pace and expression, mixing contemporary fast indie songs with a seriously addictive vocal delivery and bursts of fiery guitar leads, ands even the occasional more urgent lead vocal rising out of the firepower, again very much like an altogether classier Beatnic Prestige. The penultimate track veers between fast and choppy rhythms with a huge instrumentla riff-as-hook and a surging vocal performance while the final track is a flaming cauldron of a number, somewhere between the finest instrumentral Getdowns and Beatnic Prestige only way more depth, strengthe and force. Altogether, one stone cold stunner of a set and you just have to see this band in concert - I know I'll be going again, that's for sure.