Dirt Royal – Criminal Mind kicking it at Concorde 2 2

Dirt Royal

Tonight was a triple band night and first off was Brightons own, awesome Dirt Royal. Brighton, you have to look after these guys – go see them play. They will have your foot tapping, they will put a smile on your face and fill you head with some of the catchiest songs out there. The Headliners were SHAM 69, with another guest band Criminal Mind.

Dirt Royal are:
Charlie Russell: lead vocals/bass,
Leon Fenton: lead vocals/guitar,
Loz Hood: drums and vocals.

I was looking forward to this from Dirt Royal. These hard working guys deserved this – a big stage, big lights and a hell of a big sound.

I was lucky to be there to witness Dirt Royal when they last played at Concorde 2 last year, and it was a real joy to see the band where they should be – up there!

Dirt Royal ploughed into us with “Dont Let The Bastards Grind you down” and then powered their new single straight at the busy venue with “Waiting For The Radio” – you can find out more about that here. They sounded good, no actually they sounded great! Into the next song Glory Days.

I had heard the band had slotted in a couple of covers into their set for their recent and evergrowing UK tour, tonight we got just one – The Clash song “White Man In Hammersmith Palais” – after a misfire – the band turned it into a humourous interlude and then restarted laying down a totally different tapestry of sound for Dirt Royal. Giving the song a Dirt Royal make over but maintaining a level of respect for the song and The Clash. Charlie really let his vocal pipes work for this song. Great job guys.

We also got the last single from the band “Dr Weekend”. This is a belting song if you haven’t heard it before and this track pulled more people in from the bar area to watch and listen. I think we had three great new songs before we had Leon delivering Factory Fodder. The last song of the night was “Lose Our Way”, and it was a stunning end to a 30 minute set.

The mighty Dirt Royal doing a cover of The Clash track – White Man in Hammersmith Palais

Dirt Royal always deliver a powerful show. A combination of humour, great songs and brilliant musicians does it for me every time, and the audience at Concorde 2 agreed!

Dirt Royal are on Facebook

A VIDEO!

A short mix of the three bands – better sound videos coming soon – but hopefully this gives you a flavour of what went down when SHAM 69 comes to town.

CRIMINAL MIND

Second band on as guests of Sham 69 were Criminal Mind. Hell! These guys were loud, really loud and rocked us hard.

They are a band from Bristol and marking themselves as hard core street punk – yep! I’d agree to that. Criminal Mind formed in September 2008 in the middle-of-nowhere-Bristol (UK). Inspired by The Ruts & Black Flag, Criminal Mind will play play until death, which could be any time now.

Criminal Mind have released 2 albums and shared the stage with acts such as The Ruts, The Exploited, GBH, Discharge, The Buzzcocks, UK Subs, Sham 69, H20, Cockney Rejects, The Restarts & many more across the world.

A barn stormer of a set, just over 30 minutes of pure energy, buzzing guitars, bandanas and drums all backed up and armed with a bag full of great tunes. Nice job. I recommend going to see these guys if they play anywhere near you.

Criminal Mind are on Facebook

Please note all images / video are copyright, please do not copy. If any of the featured artists/promoters/venues want copies of the images – or more if available – please just get in touch.

All original pictures – copyright to IANB/MEDIA WORKS/ SCENE SUSSEX – Ian “The Lens” Bourn 2017.

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