MANNEQUIN PUSSY + DOG OF MAN – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 18.11.19
It was a bitterly chilly night as I headed out to The Prince Albert. This must truly be winter coming in to hang around for a while. As I arrived and warmed up whilst waiting for the show to begin, I grabbed myself a pint of Camden Pale and excitedly headed up the stairs to the performance room. The venue was mostly populated with masculine figures and everyone seemed to be enjoying the liberal use of Fontanes DC that was being pumped out of the overhead speakers.
Performing this evening is Mannequin Pussy, the American female-fronted punk rock band from Philadelphia. The hype around them in certain circles is propelling them towards the larger mainstream appeal.
Supporting Mannequin Pussy tonight are the Brighton locals Dog Of Man. The alternative freak out acid punk band love to play smaller venues and gatherings are a great fit to inject a bit of weirdness into the mix.
Dog Of Man started at 8:30pm. Their sound is a sharp obtuse mix of powerful beats and screaming guitar, giving way to one of the most creative uses of an accordion I have ever seen. The accordions output is run through guitar pedals to create new, distorted and wheezing sounds that are interesting, to say the least.
The frontman of the band is chatty and charismatic which brings a nice “just happy to be here” kind of aura around the band. His eyes are piercing yet approachable. During their 30 minute set, they bounce through six songs providing some harsh breakdowns and the absolute pleasure of seeing a man shred his way through an accordion solo. The front row seems to be really into it, bopping along to some of these wailing symphonies of unapologetic noise and energy.
The guitarist broke a string towards the end of the set, but this did nothing to slow them down or dampen their spirits, as they continued to crack jokes and interact with the audience. After this was quickly repaired, they launch into their final song of the evening being ‘Taxi’ which was one of the standout tracks of their set. It used the Oompa Oompa sound of the accordion to its best effect.
They performed without a setlist but very happily scribbled me one down reaffirming them as just nice guys who are here to have a good time. They were not selling any t-shirts, but did have copies of their new album ‘Dogmatic Manual’ for sale with an accompanying lyric book. They clearly enjoyed themselves too, as they posted a message on social media, which reads: “Great fun playing with MANNEQUIN PUSSY last night. You guys smashed it. Thanks for the people who came out early on a monday night to see us 🙂 see you on saturday @ the Albert for this! https://www.facebook.com/events/698501797250508/”
Dog Of Man setlist reads:
‘Third Eye’
‘Head On A Stick’
‘Stay Human’
‘Sorry Thanks Bye’
‘Meatcure’
‘Taxi’
The venue fills up considerably more during the interlude as I grab a crisp £4 can of Red Stripe from the bar at the back of the venue and am kindly offered earplugs by the barman.
Mannequin Pussy Take to the stage at exactly 9:30pm. This is the last show of their month-long 14 show tour, hitting the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France and the UK, in which they have supported The Belgian band Cocaine P*ss which we have recently reviewed (LINK HERE ).
Having last played Brighton and Hove at the Green Door Store on June 14th 2017, they must have been overdue for a return to the city. Hot off the release of their third full-length album ‘Patience’ which received high praise from Pitchfork, getting an 8.4/10 and being put into their best new music list, it can be believed that the band will be moving into bigger and bigger limelights soon to come. Pitchfork can be quoted as saying “On their third record, the Philly band has achieved a balance between seething chaos and quietly devastating vulnerability. It’s one of the best punk rock records of the year”. So safe to say my expectations for the band were high.
They launch into their opening song ‘Patience’, the title track of their latest album, which is powerful and punchy ,then folds into a raspy vocal solo to bring everyone into the vibe of the evening. The set felt like a triumphant ending to their tour, as they played through with their heads held high. I found that some of the mixing for the show was a little iffy with the vocals being too low on the second track.
They played songs from all of their established albums to the packed out crowd, who were enjoying what they were hearing and seeing. There were two absolute troopers at the front who jumped up and down throughout the entire set, singing back to the singer Marisa Dabice, who was losing her voice by the end of the tour.
Most of their songs followed an attack and release structure effortlessly shifting from punk breakdowns to heartfelt moving vocal segments. Towards the end, Marisa went into an emotional monologue about life, death and everything in between leading to an audience exercise of screaming with her to let out frustrations. When this had passed they blasted through their last 3 songs ‘Clams’, ‘F.A.C.A.W’ and ‘In Love Again’, and proudly left the stage shouting off “Brighton’s pretty good on a Monday night!”
They played 19 songs throughout their hour set, with a mixture from all three of their studio albums. They had a good time, we had a good time and I would recommend both their latest album and giving them a shot when they come back to Brighton.
