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Bez’s Domino Bones & Moody Tuesday, at The Soul Cellar, 22nd January 2010.

Most surreal moment of recent times for me is phoning around anyone I can think of to track down a tambourine for Bez whose trademark weapon of choice has become the number one must have for all gig going kleptomaniacs’ it would appear…… making the call and starting with “Hey, I’m here with Bez and he needs a tambourine” was a phrase I did not expect to be uttering at the start of my foray into the local music scene some months ago.

Tonight the Soul Cellar is filling up nicely, there is a gradual stream of interested parties, curious to see what Bez will be shaking his tambourine at this time. There are many of the Southampton scene faithful turning out, DJ Hammy, Glynn Davis (light man extraordinaire) as well as contingents from other local groups including Moral Soul and Timshel, proving there is plenty of life in the Southampton musical landscape yet.

DJ Jack entertains the masses with a pleasing 90’s heavy set, the chance to play Happy Mondays and Black Grape while Bez is in the building is a chance no one would want to miss out on and Kinky Afro and In The Name Of The Father get the crowd in the mood for the evening ahead.

In a lot of ways this evening is as daunting for me as it is for Moody Tuesday, I have known these boys for a while now and it is exciting to see them performing at an event such as this……. Clearly there are some nerves, so there should be, this is the kind of gig they have wanted to play since they started and here it is….. But the jitters don’t affect them, they rise to the challenge and an enthusiastic audience spur them on.

Opening with the cocky swagger of “Living In Sin” they lay their mission statement out for all to see, good time indie rock ‘n’ roll, a theme that runs through a number of tonight’s tracks such as the vitriolic attack on the bandwagon jumpers of “Rock N Roll Poser” or the ode to drunken nights out with mates of “Boys Day In The Smoke”.

But there is more here then just lads on the razzle, new track “Lucid Dreams and Fantasies” is well on its way to becoming a classic track, born from the 90s indie epic this shows the progression the band are making in writing terms and “Mirror, Mirror“ with its glam rock stomp shows there is more in their record collection than just Oasis or The Beatles. Nerves are long gone by the time they take a moment to introduce the band, to the impromptu strains of the Pink Panther theme, their confidence on stage has been earned tonight.

It is the last track of the evening that remains one of my favourites and highlights the more emotive side of David’s lyrics, “Come What June” is a paean to love, but not the grand gestures, the little things, the things that make love special, a deeply personal song it is a fitting way to end an emotional evening.

Domino Bones have actually been around for some time now, an occasional distraction rather than a full time commitment it would appear and as such the line up has been fluid and the likes of Simon Moore are not present tonight. This also means the Domino Bones back catalogue is a small eclectic one, so you will forgive me for not having the complete track listing for tonight’s gig, in fact I did ask Bez if I could have a copy of the set list but he informed me that due to the fact they only have a few tunes, they don't write one.

The next half an hour or so delivers a few surprises but in general you get what you would expect and indeed what you came for, the Bez show. Perhaps a little less hectic than in his Happy Mondays/Black Grape days but the crazy stare remains the same and Bez parades the stage and eyeballs the crowd in time honoured manner. They say write about what you know and Bez was listening, “High Society” does just this with the sing along, ‘Let’s talk about…. Ganga smoking, reefa rollin’ refrain this is clearly a mantra and trust me, if tour buses could talk, it would be a fair guess that the Bez bus would be professing its love for you and complaining of the munchies........

There is no doubt that Monica Ward can sing, she has a fantastic voice, soulful, powerful and engaging, never more so than on “Sunshine” a feel good baggy belter with the instantly catchy “Gotta believe in the sunshine, gotta believe in the summertime” chorus proving there may just be a radio friendly unit shifter hidden amongst the chaos.

Musically you get what you expect, huge nods to the Madchester sound (well he helped invent it) but there is even a hint of the Beatles, with a riff reminiscent of Ticket To Ride cropping up, obviously with a lazier feel. Overall we are treated to just 7 tracks this evening, the final one tonight being a mash up of T-Rex’s Children Of The Revolution” and Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” that soon degenerates into a shambolic close before the band take their applause and slope off to the “green“ room.

You have to take your hat off to the Soul Cellar, you never quite know what you will get coming through the doors, but you do know it will always be a fantastic night.