Dreadzone

London outfit Dreadzone have been getting crowds dancing with their infections electronica dub/ska/reggae beats for over fifteen years now and longevity has not diminished their ability to put in a performance. After another busy festival summer, the well established festival favourites are out on the road across the UK and Europe this autumn promoting sixth studio album 'Eye On The Horizon'. Their current incarnation features original members drummer Greg Dread (Roberts) and bassist Leo Williams alongside the always enthralling MC Spee, Earl 16, Chris Compton and Chris Oldfield.

After seeing them on festival stages at a distance over summer, the opportunity to get up close and personal at the intimate Liquid Room venue with two or three hundred other eager punters was too good an opportunity to miss. The Liquid Room, centrally located in Edinburgh, is a great little venue for a few hundred, where you can get up close to the band or watch from upstairs. A well priced bar at the back of the dancefloor means revellers don't miss a beat when in need of refreshment. It took half a song to warm the crowd up, but they were soon bouncing along for all they were worth to the politically tinged messages of love, hope and unity.

The band mixed up new material with established Dreadzone classics such as 'Iron Shirt', 'Life, Love & Unity' and 'Digital Mastermind'. The new material is a real mix of beats from the verging on melancholic 'Tomorrow Never Comes' and 'Changes' to the much more upbeat anti-gangster 'Gangster' and 'For A Reason'. All the new material was well received, but then this was an up-for-it Dreadzone crowd and with a front man as at ease with an audience as MC Spee - he always seems to develop an easy and genuine rapport with his audience ("When I say Dread...") - it is always going to be that way. A big nod of approval goes to the soundman - in a small and unusually shaped venue, he has the band sounding perfect out in front.

The only mild irritation is that The Liquid Room has a club night on a Saturday, so curfew is set at 22.00 – and to hear the opening bars of Little Britain at 21.45 feels far too early. The crowd respond with absolute gusto, however, and a Captain Dread encore with the room dancing for all it's worth is a fitting end to a superb gig. Fifteen years hasn't dented Dreadzone's enthusiasm for a live show, and it hasn't dented the enthusiasm for a party of their dedicated band of followers. Ahoy!

Setlist:
1. Love, Life & Unity
2. Tomorrow Never Comes
3. Iron Shirt
4. Changes
5. Digital Mastermind
6. Gangster
7. I Know
8. American Dread
9. Dancehall Priority
10. For A Reason
11. Little Britain
12. Captain Dread

FUTURE GIGS