Shepard’s Bush Empire, 1st July 2003.
I was never a big fan of The Datsuns before last night and in fact I didn’t really have any sort of opinion on them whatsoever. And to be honest I didn’t really want to go and see them but my friend had brought the tickets, so what could I do?
Yet I gradually began to realise how wrong I was, as I sat on the very high up level three, (despite the fact we had ordered standing tickets, grrrrr!) I could feel the excitement surrounding me, I was practically deafened by the excited, anticipated chatter. Behind me I could hear a conversation about a previous Datsuns gig and various comparisons performance wise to the rolling stones.
They did very little to discourage this, from the moment they took to the stage to the moment they finished, The Datsuns were here to put on a show. And this came complete with their own introduction made by a little old man who claimed to be an old school teacher, from the school of rock. “ They were gangly, over enthusiastic teenagers, now they are The Datsuns!” And with that they appeared to massive, deafening, raucous cheers, they launched straight into a new song and never looked back.
They mixed new material with screechingly fantastic current stuff, and this is coming from a once non fan. The songs were so frenzied and fast you were left gasping for breath, Dolf literally screeched every lyric to such a point you would literally winch. Highlights were most definitely the current songs, harmonic generator, in love and the next single MF from hell. And Dolf was stunning in his usual drainpipe Levis and very tight fitted shirt, he does verge on the point of camp while strutting around the stage. But like many before him, Brett Anderson and Rick Whitter he is an icon in the making, and yes his hair really is that shiny!
The set seemed over as soon as it began and I don’t think anyone present including the band wanted it to end. Their relationship with the crowd was remarkable they reacted to the crowd at all the right moments. It was a memorable, entertaining gig and will be among my top five for a long time to come. The gig ended with a very long version of Freeze Sucker, during which Dolf threw himself into the crowd and then proceeded to take off both shoes and socks throwing them around in various directions. Then they all waved and left, leaving the very longhaired guitarist to throw his towel into the crowd.
My last vision of the night was a huge crowd of people fighting over the towel and a very big, burley security guard trying to prise it off them.
Jenny Tudor.
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