The Lemonheads

The Lemonheads come from the echelon of bands that don't really make any new music anymore but still tour. Often touted as the remit of sell outs and scabs, but anyone who can't appreciate the joy of a set like tonight's is a person with a stone in place of where their heart must be. Nostalgic in spades and super fun to boot.

Any London based person will testify that any venue in the 02 isn't the ideal venue for a gig, the 02's façade masking the despair inside. It's multitude of shitty bars, chain restaurants and the general stench of vapid nothingness are usual turnoffs. However, the 02 Indigo itself is amiable enough and the sound is spot on for the gig tonight. The gig starts of in very strange circumstances, mostly down to it clashing with the Ireland European Championship qualifier with Germany, waves of Irish gig goers (myself included) huddle around one man's smartphone as Dando n Co. rip on with 'Hospital' and 'Down About It'.

After this they have our full attention and it's a near 30 song set that leaves the Lemonheads and specifically the Dandoites in raptures. The brisk start goes onto include a cover of Smudgefoot's 'Tenderfoot' and the ever popular 'It's About Time'.

The gig then switches gears to an Evan Dando acoustic section with Dando performing some of his solo works including 'Why Do You Do This to Yourself?' and 'Hard Drive'. Chris Brakow comes out for the next section to add a bit of extra oomph while the music stays Dando focussed with a few covers thrown in for good measure.

Then the full band return and oh, boy talk about the hits! 'Confetti', 'It's a Shame About Ray', 'My Drug Buddy' and 'Rudderless' are the stand outs of a section played with the pomp of a band who don't seem like they've not played together in quite a while. The fan boys and the fair weather Lemonheads fans are in unison at this point.

We get another few solo Dando moments before the full band once again return with 'Bit Part' (one of the best tunes to ever clock in at under two minutes) and 'Alison's Starting to Happen'. By the time they sign off with 'If I Could Talk I'd Tell You' you realise you've witnessed about six mini gigs in one. If they tour very seldom at least they make it count when they do.