Tonight’s Brooklyn Bowl is a great venue based at the back of The O2. An American style bar/ restaurant and bowling alley, an ace place that plays Queen, Guns and Roses and Led Zep album cuts whilst screening classic James Bond films between break dance completions and skate reels. The food and bar prices are pretty good too.
An hour later than billed the ten piece brass band that is Old Dirty Brasstards appear on stage, no introduction or even a hello, they launch straight into Beyoncé ‘Crazy In Love’. ODB hit every note and every vocal harmony sending the bar from quiet night drinks into raging party in an instant. “We have two sets tonight, so drink and come dance with us!” quips the band leader, ‘Get Lucky’ is up next sounding amazing, the tune forces a handful of the brave to get up and shake it. The sound that Old Dirty Brasstards create is a joy to behold, the bass is as thick and meaty as it should be, where everything else is arranged to a tee. For a ten piece brass band to create such a sound true to the record is astounding! A friend sits next to me with jaw on the floor in silence. When he comes round to speaking again he comes out with the line “This might be the best live band I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen Queen!”
The band are brilliant musicians but they have terrible showmanship, between each song they ever fiddle with their instruments, chat among themselves or leaf through their music leaving for an incredibly awkward silence each time. Even when the band leader tries to say something, the one vocal mic doesn’t seem to responding making it feel like a supply teacher trying to control an unruly class.
The Human Leagues ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’ brings the crowd back under control and even creates a few little pockets pop up for the chorus. We were guilty as charged too.
After a quick fumble with the mic “Yeah that feels good, it’s after 9 on a Saturday” leads into Swifty’s ‘Shake It Off’. This track packs the dancefloor people aren’t just jigging around a bit, I can see full on dancing. Swing moves are abundant, along with Lindy Hop and many more, there is no show boating just good clean fun.
The Old Dirty Brasstards still muddle their way between the songs but they make up for it in song choices Eurythmics, Franz Ferdinand and Amy Winehouse all get the brass treatment tonight at the Brooklyn Bowl.
The main event in the O2 area tonight is the Tyson fight prompting the band leader to comment with a smile “So are you the guys that couldn’t stand to see some poor guy get his face smashed in, so you’ve come to party with us”. Labrinth’s ‘Earthquake’ is brassed up but sounds a bit weird, the slow pace and the deep grained electronic sound of the original seems to skew the track. It doesn’t quite sit right at all.
The band are clearly having a fantastic time, jigging as much as they can with ten people and a full drum kit on stage, Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ pulls even more people onto the floor. The Old Dirty Brasstards finish their first set with ‘Man In the Mirror’, a slower number than usual, getting a big drunken sing along to the chorus. Instruments down and the band head straight for the bar and stay there for the half hour break.
Again there is no intro, we get straight back to the brass with ‘Uptown Funk’ dragging as many people as it can to the dancefloor with its funky tentacles. ‘Mirrors’, ‘Africa’ by Toto and a doggy sounding ‘Rather Be’ but the bass is insane for this rendition. The whole ten piece band have to take their cue for Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Move On Up’, a small drum solo drops the band into a R’n’B style rhythm, this is hugely impressive. The drummer has been like a metronome all night. The band even use their instrument mics to chant the end lyrics.
‘Royals’ is turned chipper as the band take it on and own it, Basement Jaxx is way too fast to dance to even with added brass. Rihanna’s ‘We’re Have You Been’ builds and builds until the drop, which is truly amazing, the bass section of the ODB are super super talented. Everything these two touch sounds just as it should from the record, sometimes even better! As the bass drops the band leader and overs raise their glasses and an empty pitcher of beer in salute.
“You’re getting one more, we’re going to leave you with the little man. A bit of Prince and Purple Rain”. Lighters, camera’s and anything that glows is thrust into the air as everyone in Brooklyn Bowl sways, the solo is there and sounding great. The Old Dirty Brasstards hug on stage as the screen comes down to chants of “We want more!”.
The awe did start to wear off during The Old Dirty Brasstards second set and their stage banter needs huge amounts of work but the song selection and musicianship is second to none.