Sauce

I had very little knowledge of the Dukes of Windsor apart from seeing their name appear a lot in music street press, but I have been a fan of the Voyeurs for years, and figured this would be the gig to head to on this night.

The Voyeurs kicked it off with their unusual combination of Eastern prog rock-meets-melodic metal. I’ve known from past experience that it doesn’t work for everyone – you either love it or hate it. Personally, I love it. But there can be no denying that these guys are very good musicians. I thought it was interesting that I didn’t see their normal technique of swapping instruments from song to song. I believe it has been a while since they have been on stage, but they have not suffered from it, giving a solid performance that impressed some friends of mine who had never heard of them (or were they just being nice to me?). Their crowd certainly seemed to appreciate the performance.

The Dukes of Windsor surprised me in the style they delivered as a live band. I described it on the night as “Syrup played live”. That, to me, has both positive and negative connotations. I’m not a fan of the music style played at nightclubs. I like my music live. But these guys really nailed it – very tight bass and drums driving that nightclub-like beat. They certainly had the audience in that mode. Their feel was rock-based but highly oriented to the bottom-end sound. A very good performance, but not really my cup of tea.

KEN GLEESAN