Its not often that support bands actually manage to come even close to getting the crowd going before the headline act, but Duchess Says (original post), even with a Bournemouth crowd, managed it without the slightest problem. Their extremely loud brand of electro-punk went down extremely well amongst Yeah Yeah Yeah's fans, and Karen O herself was perfectly visible up on the balcony throughout the set. Duchess Says probably wasted their strongest song 'Black Flag' too early on, but this didn't stop the lead singer (who is getting a reputation for this) spending the latter part of the set in and amongst the crowd. She went up and over twice, and screaming down the mic and gesturing to onlookers - bringing their final set of the tour to a convincing end.
I've seen Yeah Yeah Yeah's twice already this year and both times I've been let down, maybe it was the festival sound, at both Glastonbury and Reading the guitar was turned so low you could barely hear it - not a good deal for a garage rock band. This time however they impressed just about everyone, the sound was spot on, and the Bournemouth O2 Academy is a beautiful, intimate venue. Karen O was at her finest, and although we saw none of her festival lunges, she spent a large part of her performance (though still, nowhere near as much as Duchess Says) dancing in and amongst the crowd. Opening with fan favourite Gold Lion, they played a fantastic set of perfect length - heading off for encore with Maps and finishing with Date With The Night. They played songs spread from all their albums, but recent favourites Dull Life and Heads Will Roll went down extremely well.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs gave a chaotic performance to an extremely welcoming crowd. They are definitely not the most famous band in the UK (indeed nothing close to their US/Canada popularity) but they clearly have a bit of a local cult following judging by the turnout to the O2 Academy. The tour finale show sold out quickly, and the reaction was as big as i've seen to any band in the growing music scene of Bournemouth in recent years.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Man (MP3)
Duchess Says - Black Flag (MP3)
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