As the London Launch show for the new Diamond Dogs album 'Quitters And Complainers' had clashed with several other gigs I missed it. Luckily enough, however, they were playing at the legendary El Sol club in Madrid while we were in town for a short break so I could finally get to see them play a full show again.
Having found the club down an alley nice and early we went and had some pre gig beer and tapas round the corner at Tapa Tapa and then went into El Sol just after 10pm. Going downstairs, we found ourselves in a very cool very old school L-shaped room with a stage in the corner. It filled up pretty quickly so that it was pretty busy by the time Diamond Dogs came on at 10.30. Yep no support acts and no waiting around.
From the moment they opened up with a long instrumental intro to Barking Up the Wrong Tree it was obvious that this line up were going to be in great form with (is it) Lars on guitar bending those strings like a good un. Next, they went straight into the classic Goodbye Miss Jill, with Sulo, who was improbably wearing a scarf and jacket in this heat, had us eating out of the palm of his hand. I think it was Honked next for the thousand mile an hour guitar and keyboards treatment to really get us going.
They slowed the pace a touch for This is My Charity Song: one of my favourites and always great to hear it live. They then dedicated Black Ribbons to the late great Magic who drowned in an accident last year and who the current album is also dedicated to. Raised a Holler, meanwhile, certainly got one or two back from the packed up for it Madrid crowd.
They launched into the first verse of Bo Diddley's Hey Mona before they twisted it into Silver Star Delight. Broken went by in a blur. Every Little Crack had a great solo in it and then Sulo put his Hand On Heart and told how it was once more.
Was it If You Want Love next? Not sure if that's the song title or not, but either way it's another great one. They became the first band this month to cover Bo Diddley's Pills while mentioning the New York Dolls in the intro and the second one this summer after The Lurkers did it at Rebellion last month. Damn, it was a great version, very Stones-y and it had pretty much the whole of El Sol singing along to it.
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Rush For Comfort brought the temperature down slightly before they steamed through Crooked Crutch on the way to being On the Sunny Side Again. That had some great keys from the Duke of Honk before they did a brilliant version of Dead End Streets and closed the set with Lay me Down On Solid Ground.
Well yes they'd left us wanting more and soon enough they were back. I can't make head or tail of what I put down for the opener of the encore but I do know it was followed by a great take on Sad To Say I'm Sorry that mutated seamlessly into Honky Tonk Angel. We then got what I have down as Get It On Right Now. That may or may not have been a Hank Thompson cover of Wild Side of Life but it was very enjoyable. They closed a great night with Bring it On Home To Me that had everyone singing this great old classic.
That was a great end to a great gig and left us with enough time to get last orders at a street cafe round the corner where we could sit and drink beer and watch the prostitutes prowling up and down the street. El Sol had certainly lived up to its legendary venue status and it's well worth visiting.
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