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Doves - The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA - June 13, 2005

Anticipation was high for this show, since The Doves had had to postpone the first half of their tour due to singer/bassist Jimi Goodwin's throat problems. Thankfully, he was back in fine voice tonight, and for me the delay helped me get over my rabid obsession with the new Some Cities album and put it into perspective against the band's other fine work.

I was a little disappointed by openers Longwave; I'd liked their shoegazy pop on albums Endsongs and The Strangest Things and was looking forward to seeing them reproduce rawer versions, but most of the set was given over to songs from their upcoming third album, which frankly didn't sound like much to look forward to compared to the older stuff. A muddy sound didn't help either, with singer Steve Schlitz's voice all but hidden. Still, there were enough appealing tunes and guitar textures that I haven't written Longwave off just yet.

The Doves seem have managed to tap into a certain serious-music-nerd psyche that will likely sustain their record sales for years and hopefully put them on a similar pedestal to the likes of Radiohead, and so the Fillmore was packed by the time The Doves took the stage. Still, the band seems to attract a diverse audience, with high school kids jumping up and down in anticipation just as much as the twenty- and thirty-something fans (plus a good smattering of the older music lovers that make San Francisco such a laid back, inclusive place to see music).

With The Doves it's very much about the music rather than star power - the group (Goodwin, guitarist Jez Williams, drummer Andy Williams and touring keyboardist Martin Rebelski) are content to let pulsating lights and flickering images provide the visuals for most of the show. The band shambled on unassumingly and launched into the hypnotic atmospherics of "Where We're Calling From", then directly into a powerful "NYC".

It would be well nigh impossible to reproduce the lush, autumnal sound of The Doves' albums with only four players, so the band didn't try, instead stripping down the arrangements and turning up the guitar effects. It was a treat to see the three permanent members swapping vocals and instruments throughout the show. Jimi would regularly exchange his bass for an acoustic guitar with Jez taking over bass duties (although his aggressive playing made it look as if he was still bashing out the 6 string chords), and for "Here It Comes", Andy came out front to sing and play harmonica while Jimi took over the drums.

I'm enough of a Doves obsessive that pretty much every song was a highlight, but some particular standouts included the piano-driven, soul-inflected latest single "Black And White Town" (which, as others have mentioned before, evokes the late great The Jam's "A Town Called Malice"), heart rending versions of "Snowden" and "Satellites" that sounded even more evocative without choir or orchestration, and the aforementioned "Here It Comes", which was accompanied by manic dance footage from Northern England's legendary Wigan Casino.

The Doves' tour is drawing to a close now, but grab the chance to see them in a medium sized venue if you can - if there's any justice, they'll be filling Coldplay's stadium shoes next time they play here.

-Gareth Bowles

The Doves / Longwave The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA June 13, 2005