Electric Six And Dick Valentine

As if last weekend wasn't busy enough, last Sunday saw us go out to the Brudenell to see Electric Six play live. I had known about the Detroit-based band ever since they broke onto the scene in 2003 with hits like 'Gay Bar' and 'High Voltage', but this was their commercial zenith and I hadn't, regrettably, heard much of their new stuff. Stray had been planning this for months and was almost counting down the days as it approached, meaning that he constantly kept reminding me to listen to their back catalogue on Spotify. This is what I did throughout August and early September, largely at the gym, meaning by the time we got to see them, I had a solid basis of their musical career.

Wolfie was unfortunately on call, meaning that he couldn't drink, which saw us drive to the venue as from Pudsey it is significantly more convenient than taking public transport. Stray and Taneli had met up for a meal in town earlier in the day, but we decided to skip this, partly because Wolfie may have been called out and partly because we had had enough eating out over the past week and we wanted to be healthier. Upon arrival, we noticed that our friends were sat around a rather small table supping beers. We hadn't intended in drinking but having twice been to Brudenell for the January beer festival they hold, I did have a suspicion that they serve some good stuff there. This turned out to be the case, which was something of a shame for Wolfie as he couldn't really have any. Still, the company was rather good as alongside Stray and Taneli, there was Avon, Patter, Shiro and one of Stray's uni friends Kyle, who proceeded to get rather wasted and ended the night scaring off a group of women when he asked 'can I stroke your wings' before collapsing in a heap on the floor stroking his nipple.

Anywho, there were two support acts before Electric Six but none of our friends were too bothered seeing them, preferring sitting outside, despite the slight nip of autumn in the air. I didn't have my jumper, but I managed to ignore it, largely because the conversation was so lively. It was at this time that the exit poll for the Swedish election was announced and I was to keep a close eye on the result as the votes were declared for the rest of the evening. In the end, the vote wasn't as bad as initiallly feared but there is a huge deadlock in the Swedish Parliament and God only knows what that is going to mean for the political landscape in one of our key target countries in the months and years ahead. Indeed, aside from being fascinated in politics, this was the main reason why I was following it. Still, despite checking in with varied sources every fifteen minutes or so on Twitter, I didn't let it spoil the show and indeed I got rather immersed in the whole thing. The stage area at the Brudenell is incredibly intimate and it was great to see such a lively and fun-loving act at such close quarters. Despite being one of the latest groups to enter the venue, we managed to perch ourselves in a very good place, on the steps leading into the main mosh pit, dead centre of the stage. This afforded us a wonderful view throughout the performance and because I knew most of the songs, it really made for a magical experience. Dick Valentine is such an incredible showman, going from passive gurning right through to crowd engagement and back again, often in the same song. The band also had a great energy too and the set passed by incredibly quickly. Ahead of the encore, I was also delighted to have gotten a 'More Dick' chant running, even though it probably wasn't the most original thing to shout at an Electric Six gig.

Afterwards, Patter, Avon and Shiro all headed home, but the rest of us stayed out, fancying the company and another drink in the still lively bar. It was after 11pm by this point and about twenty minutes later, Stray alerted us to the fact that Dick was just wandering around the main stage area chatting with people. We decided to have a gander and soon we were talking to the lead singer of Electric Six. Stray had already met him before the show, when he offered to sell him the six spare tickets he had for the gig. Dick saw the funny side and signed them for him, and of course this meant Stray had a way in when he met Dick again after the show. The upshot of all this, after a little conversation and an awkward selfie, was we were invited to a more intimate acoustic show the following evening in Al's Dime Bar in Bradford, a place we knew fairly well. We felt it such an honour to have been invited and Dick was such a warm down-to-earth guy that we made plans to go out the next night to see the show, which is what we ended up doing.

So we left the Brudenell pretty happy, although Wolfie wasn't particularly delighted with having to drive Kyle, Taneli and Stray back home. This meant we got home about 1am, but we had had a great evening and were looking forward to the events of the following day. We had told ourselves that Monday would be our first day of detox but we didn't want to turn this gig down, so we decided to give ourselves another twenty-four hours. It turned out to be a great call as the Monday evening show was arguably better than the Sunday. After the gig, we got talking to Dick again after Stray had bought some pornography from him and he was telling me that he insisted on playing the Dime Bar as it's such an intimate venue. This was certainly the case as there were around one hundred people crammed into this small bar, which I thought was quite surprising on a Monday evening. We didn't think it would be quite so rammed and initially headed right to the back of the room where the ladies' toilets are. There was a support act, the wonderfully talented Boy from Armley, meaning we were in the bar for about thirty minutes before Dick came on. The stage was really just one corner of the bar right near the front door, and it was down here to where we moved just before the main act began. This turned out to be an inspired move from my part as we were about 4ft away from Dick, with the only minor irritation that being by the door meant people walking back and forth wanting to have a smoke. The advantage for me though was that I got to see an excellent guitar player close up on acoustic, meaning I could get tips and techniques of how to play. This was secondary of course to the music and particularly Dick's powerful voice, which filled the whole venue with emotion. There were two lesbians next to me to whom he dedicated three songs while he asked for about six people to come up and sing 'Gay Bar' with him, but I was regrettably too shy. The final song was 'High Voltage', performed on guitar by Armley Boy and which turned into a huge singalong, marking a fine way to end the evening. As I have already mentioned, we hung around afterwards and spoke to Dick some more before ending the night at The Sparrow, where we spoke to another Electric Six fan over a final drink.

Whenever I see live music I always lament that I don't see enough live music and this was certainly the case here. Seeing Electric Six both as a live rock band and the lead singer in an intimate acoustic setting was a great privilege, as was meeting Dick after both shows. It also taught me a lot about guitar playing and is motivating me further to get better and perform. All in all, it was a really great two days and I will definitely be seeing them again when they next swing by, which may be soon due to their well-known affection for northern England.