Dean & Britta @ The Metro

Dean & Britta week



I have to admit that I have always found it very difficult to be critical about anything that Dean Wareham has done...I might, for example, comment on how The Days of Our Nights was Luna's worst album but in reality I listen to "Days..." pretty regularly and like it a lot. However I'm pretty certain that my inability to criticise is pretty much founded on the fact that there is very little that he has touched that is open to criticism. I thought it best to put this disclaimer front and centre as a warning that most of what follows is gushing sugary fan-boy praise and may be slightly lacking in any objectivity.



We arrived at the dingy and overly hot Metro while third on the bill act, who I guess were Exit calm, were finishing of a set of lively, shoegazery noise that seemed good enough to make me think I should have got there 20 minutes earlier. Asobi Seksu were next on the bill playing their first ever London show, and, it seems were responsible for the attendance of a large section of the audience. They played a too short but scintillating set of...well...lively, shoegazery noise. I picked up their two albums last year and Citrus was one of my [url= http://blog.fullofwishes.co.uk/swirling/2007/01/02/lists-of-2006/]favourite albums of 2006 so I'm glad not to have been disappointed...



We managed to get a prime position for Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham as the crowd noticeably thinned after Asobi Seksu's set. The first half of the short show was pulled from Back Numbers and L'Avventura, You Turn My Head Around can't help but be a live gem (even if I have concerns about the studio version), White Horses was beautiful (I've always been fond of it) and Night Nurse...and Ginger Snaps...and well everything else...were great.



The last four numbers however were just like being in a dream. Tugboat followed by an awesome Strange, then Bonnie and Clyde and Ceremony as the finale (it would have been the encore if the curfew wasn't so strict). The first time I saw Galaxie 500 play Ceremony at the Subterrania many moons ago, still pretty much lives in my head as the single most awesome music-related moment of my life and while Dean & Britta's version last night couldn't quite match that it was still an absolute joy to hear.



I briefly chatted with Dean afterwards, but the chat was mostly awkward silences and watching other people being better at it than me. Funniest moment was Galaxie 500 lister Richard asking Dean if he knew who Andy Aldridge was...that made me smile (and it's always nice to meet, however briefly, Galaxie 500 list members). I said a brief "Hi" to Britta and then we headed home.



I'm looking forward to seeing them again tonight...



Tue 19 Jun - Dean & Britta, Asobi Seksu, Exit Calm