The Dirty Strangers / The Brutalists / The Essex Girls - Man Man Bar, London (UK) - 14 October 2019
Openers this time are The Essex Girls which have a few men as well as a female bassist (WHO looked a bit like a young Suzi Quatro) and a female sax player. They are guitar based with a bit of a punky vocalS. The highlight of their set was their final track 'Fuck You' which just consisted of a lot of gutsy expletives which they looked like they enjoyed immensely.
The Brutalists added a little bit of the cool cat to proceedings and in shades and sharp suits the band have a little bit of the Krays look about them tonight. It was a slightly different set to the Dublin Castle, including 'You Got me Drinkin' Alone' but still included the new singles featuring a bit of disco ('Take It All Away') and the more punky 'Price On Your Head' and still without any material from other bands they used to be in. They went down well with the mixed audience tonight, and while there were certainly some who have come due to the band's heritage there were no complaints about their seasoned and slick performance.
Tonight The Dirty Strangers had as guest guitarist Dave 'Bucket' Colwell of Humble Pie, who played with Bad Company for fourteen years, and again, unsurprisingly, it affected their sound. This time the set was full of smooth as butter guitar solos in tracks like 'Diamonds', but again we got a bit of Chuck Berry in tracks like 'South Of The River', a bit of Georgia Satellites in tracks like 'Hands Up', and even 'Gold Cortina' is more Americana and less Punk this time around. 'Bad Girls' was dedicated to a big fan in the audience who was all smiles as a result. It was entertaining to see the band sound completely different due to the change of guitarists in the last few shows. However, I can't help feeling that their true spirit lies in the seventies and hope they don't lose the London Punk aspect of their shows of which I am quite fond.
Review and photos Dawn Osborne
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