It might be a Sunday night but it still takes a good half hour to get into Birmingham’s O2 Academy 2 and once up the stairs and into the room, it’s packed. And somehow only becomes busier over the next hour or so before the first chords of the night are struck. Why? Well, it’s the classic rock band on everyone’s lips right now – Dirty Honey. There’s a similar fervour in the air like when Blackberry Smoke first started jetting over here, Rival Sons a decade ago and even The Temperance Movement when they were active. It would seem the appetite for bluesy classic rock is still as rampant as ever.
An hour later and BabySaid step out onto the stage. Whilst there’s much anticipation for the headliners, they’re met politely and with encouragement which only grows as the evening progresses. The four young girls respond in kind, their performance gradually turning more energetic and animated with every song. Each of them are well-versed in their instrument of choice and work as a tight unit together. Drums are simple but full of finesse and lock in solidly with the bass. Meanwhile the dual guitars complement one another like all the best two-guitar bands. However, for most of the set, they’re barely, if at all audible and are only heard on intros before the bass comes in and buries them. It means most of the melodies are lost and gives the band an altrock sound fitting of their young age and whilst sonically it’s a strange juxtaposition with the headliners, the crowd lap it up regardless. But once they do become audible on “Fight”, the band becomes a totally different beast. It’s a scrappy but powerful number and full of life. As they advertise their new single “You Could Have Killed Me”, it’s another bouncy effort and they’re clearly a band who don’t believe in slower numbers besides the token one at the halfway point. Regardless of the sound issues, they’re a band in their infancy and I’d love to hear them at full pelt to hear what they’re meant to sound like.
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Dirty Honey aren’t a band for exploding onto the stage but they still know how to make an entrance. And when they do, the sold-out venue make their presence a welcome one. Kicking things off with the bass-heavy intro of the title track from their recent album, Can’t Find the Brakes, it builds the tension for frontman Marc Labelle to come onto the stage and before the song is over, he’s got the crowd in the palm of his hand. With a cool charisma to him, it’s shared by his bandmates as the quartet saddle up and ensure they give the crowd everything they have.
The Les Paul stylings of guitarist John Notto show the symbiotic relationship between that guitar and classic rock – if you’re going to play a Les Paul, it has to be classic rock and if you’re going to play classic rock, it has to be on a Les Paul. The big, chunky blues-drenched sound is breathtaking and despite a few technical hitches, he shoulders them effortlessly. Indeed, there’s a better mix on offer than was afforded to the support with everything on equal measure to allow it to sound as faithful as possible to the albums. There’s a well-maintained poise to them and whilst much of the up-tempo numbers have a swagger to them, it never strays into arrogance. This is a band that relies on the songs to do their talking for them as it should be. It’s backed up by the fact that each of them are excellent musicians and work as one tight unit.
As the band blend early Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin into one cohesive package, it’s no surprise there’s a big dollop of blues running throughout the music. It allows for the guitar work to be soulful and played with feeling, rather than relying solely on technical ability to add another layer of authenticity to them. They’re a band clearly respectful of the bands who led the way and the slowed-down cover of “Honky Tonk Women” allows Labelle’s rasp to bring a new dimension to Mick Jagger’s original drawl. Likewise, on their cover of Aerosmith’s “Rats in the Cellar” (not the most obvious choice for an Aerosmith cover as shown by the blank looks in the crowd), he gives early 70s Steven Tyler a run for his money without trying to copy him note for note. Instead, Labelle simply shows off his own impressive vocal range. Meanwhile, the rest of the band handle it like one of their own and the lack of second guitar doesn’t impair them, showing that when your band is good enough, you can tackle an icon’s song with less personnel and still do it justice.
While songs like “Heartbreaker” and “Tied Up” show the band at their up-tempo best as if they’ve been pulled straight from a sun-drenched LA, the tamer moments also create some special moments in “Coming Home (Ballad of the Shire)” and “Another Last Time”. As the former’s conception is introduced, one of the few technical difficulties allows Labelle to rhapsodise about O2 venues just being boxes with no vibe (and other than Manchester’s Apollo and Glasgow’s ABC – RIP – he’s right). But the acoustic folky number is goosebump-inducing once it gets going and whilst in the middle of the set, would work well as a finale. The latter has Labelle out in the crowd and on the bar for the second half as he works with the crowd as if delivering a sermon.
It feels outdated in this day and age but the encore brings a thrilling end to the evening, and indeed, the weekend and they save some of their best for last with “Won’t Take Me Alive” as it pulls no punches, encouraging the crowd to jump and the evergreen “Rolling 7s”. It comes as a touch disappointing that “Gypsy” isn’t on the setlist and it feels a bit like going to see Guns N’ Roses and them omitting “Nightrain”. But if the only fault you can find is “They didn’t play one of their best songs” in an eighteen-strong set, it’s minor, at best.
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With a sold-out show for a Sunday and making their Birmingham debut, in one fell swoop, they’ve raised their own personal bar from their Glasgow (and UK) debut a couple of years back. There’s reverence for their genre whilst reminding everyone in the crowd just how damn good it can be when you’ve got the songs and the skills to back it up. Every so often a band come along and is touted as the “saviours” of classic rock but when there’s a good mix of ages rather than the average age of the room a solid 55, if not higher, Dirty Honey might actually be the ones to do it.
Header image by Katarina-Benzova
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