Komedia, 20th November 2009
It was with much excitement that we approached the Komedia on the night that highly acclaimed Dreadzone came to town! I hadn’t seen Dreadzone live before and was full of anticipation about what they would be like, and I wasn’t disappointed as they delivered a set of epic proportions, playing the full plethora of songs taking in many of their early tracks together with new offerings from the forthcoming album out in the new year.
For the uninitiated, Dreadzone are a British band who formed in the early 1990’s whose music is an eclectic fusion of dub, dance, reggae, techno, trance and even folk. They have produced five studio albums and a live recording and are a firm festival favourite with a 15-year strong track record of delivering brilliant live music experiences.
They kicked off with a majestic opener playing the latest single “Beyond the Rock” with a bass heavy swagger, rock guitar, electro riffs and fat drums underpinning a relentless vocal hook which in no time at all had the crowd jumping and dancing. This was followed by the now anthemic “Life, Love and Unity” and MC Spee encouraged the crowd to “Make some Dreadzone noise!!!” to which they readily responded, shouting and waving their arms in the air. MC Spee built the momentum and took us through a journey of Dreadzone tracks taking in the delights of “Little Britain”, “Iron Shirt”, “Tomorrow Never Dies” and “Love the Life”. Melding a hypnotic drum beat overlaid with MC Spee’s trademark rapid delivery vocal, over tight techno beats and bruising basslines, the Dreadzone sound embraces all genres, including hip hop and ragga influences, for example on the glorious “Zion Youth”. Dedicating songs aplenty – “Changes” to his brother and “Gangster” to Bob Hoskins they played one for their old school skank crew which was described as “Old school Dreadzone meets Badboy” with “The Warning” followed by “Crazy Knowledge” finishing with the brilliant bouncy “Captain Dread” whilst addressing the crowd “Ahoy!! Brighton pirates!!”. A brilliant live performance to a sell out crowd this gig confirmed their status as one of the truly original pioneers of the UK music dance scene.
You can’t help wondering how a 5-piece band can possibly make so much noise and are left wanting more. If you didn’t catch them this time round, make sure you book your ticket for June 4th 2010 as due to the rapid sell out of this much awaited gig, they are putting on a second night for early next summer. If you can’t wait that long, Dreadzone are offering a free download from their website to coincide with the current tour dates – go to dreadzone.com to get yours now!
Words by Adam Harris
