The Duke Spirit @ Mercury Lounge: Duke ... Duke ... Duke ... Duke of...
In lieu of standing in line for the first midnight showing of Step Up 2: The Streets, I took in the good time rockin' of The Duke Spirit. The London outfit are back on the scene with album No. 2 and just killed tonight at Mercury. It's an exciting time for them because the new material is going to make a lot feet and hips happy.
The setlist:
- Send a Little Love Token
- You Really Wake Up The Love In Me
- Sunken Treasure
- Lassoo
- Dog Roses
- Sovereign
- Neptune's Call
- The Step and The Walk
- This Ship Is Built To Last
- Red Weather
- Love Is An Unfamiliar Name
- Encore: Lion Rip
- Into the Fold
As you can see, they focused almost entirely on their new material from Neptune, which will hit your ears on April 8. I could tell that Leila and company are about the new material. They seemed rejuvenated with the new songs, like they were meant to play the material all along. Each song on that album has a great atttitude and confidence. Also, they are willing the embrace different moods and feelings, even trying out some old time Western music.
Let me back track a little. The Dukes join a very elite list of mine that includes Razorlight, New Pornographers, The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Jamie T, The Grates, Sufjan Stevens, Sons & Daughters, Editors and Franz Ferdinand. These are bands and people who have come to my house to use my bathroom. I'm joking. These are bands I've seen on two continents. Before this blog, I saw The Duke Spirit open up for Razorlight in 2004 at Brixton Academy. Frankly, I wasn't impressed. They had only been a band for about a year and they hadn't honed their sound. They came off as a "dime a dozen" rock band with 80s influences.
Fast forward to tonight and it's like night and day. Now they are act to embrace. The new songs straddle 60s British Rock and late-80s shoegazer in this big, sexy ball of rockness. Leila Moss has come into her own as a frontwoman. She's the modern rock version of Twiggy and Françoise Hardy as a rock star -- stylish and with a great presence. She stompped and strutted around the stage with all these iconic rock poses. It's good times because she backs it with her fierce voice.
It's pretty damn exciting to see a band come into their own when we're in an age where bands are put on a pedestal after being a band for 3 weeks. The Duke Spirit put their dues in and will hopefully get some props. Tonight was a start since the joint was sold out.
As a side note, this is the best happy accident picture I've ever taken.
Wow, that show looks awesome! I hope they do a full tour!
Posted by: stoopidmonkey | February 14, 2008 at 01:19 PM
i'd love to get a higher resolution image of that topmost pic. it's awesome. It's an amazing photo. I love this band.
Posted by: Paul Harrison | February 05, 2009 at 09:50 PM