Save for Wrexham, North Wales generally isn’t known for its thriving live music scene, but a promotion company that’s really doing the local scene a favour is The Bay “Rock, Metal & Blues” and the Dr. Feelgood show was a great example of how a show should be put on. There was good sound, with no delayed starts (in fact, the gig began earlier than expected) and although these are quite basic things, they really make all the difference.
Opening the night was The Storyville Mob, who began their set with instrumental number Storyville. Having seen them last just under six months ago, it was interesting to see how much they’d progressed as a band, and they seemed a lot more “together” and had a much tighter sound to their performance, which was great! When a band works hard at their performance, it really shows. The set included some of their best songs, like Hotter Than Hell and Baby Drove Up In A Brand New Cadillac but it was a little disappointing that their set got cut short and they weren’t able to play Granny Was A Killer, which is always a crowd favourite. This band has a lot to give and they really brought it at this gig – they deserve every success for how hard they work.
Up next was Bad Moon, who got off to a great start. Their frontman was charismatic and fun, and there was a lot of movement about the stage. However, the longer the set progressed, the more it seemed to drag, and the songs began to sound fairly similar to one another. The performance itself was a lot of fun but it just seemed to go on for that little bit too long – but it did witness the first bit of dancing of the night!
Everyone wanted to get involved for headline act Dr. Feelgood though! As soon as the band took to the stage, vocalist Robert demanded everyone in the room to get on the dancefloor and it was soon filled with a good few moving bodies as the band began to play. Although I have seen Dr. Feelgood once before at Bogiez in Cardiff a few years back, I can’t say I’m massively familiar with the band’s music but it didn’t really matter because this band just has a way of making the whole room feel included and involved, no matter what your prior knowledge of them may be!
The band powered through a strong set full of catchy numbers and when they left the stage the room still wanted more – naturally they returned and obliged by playing a rather brilliant rendition of Chuck Berry’s Run Rudolph Run (well, it is nearly Christmas after all!) and one more song before taking a bow to a room filled with cheers and applause. Good stuff!
7/10
Great review Natalie, Thanks for coming down.