Speaking in Tongues at Dingwalls

As I was at a loose end on a Saturday night, I thought I might give this a shot - a Talking Heads tribute act at Dingwalls on Camden Lock. 

Always difficult to judge how early to arrive to bag a good spot when one is unfamilar with the band and the following. I didn't want to queue so I aimed to get there a little after doors open. Which I did, according to the tickets, but doors actually opened half an hour later. And as you can tell from below, there wasn't exactly a rush to the front. The average age of the crowd was such that hanging around at the bar (behind me) seemed more appealing than the "dancefloor" in front of me. 

No support so the band just came on. Definitely not sold out, but a very genial crowd had formed of a very wide age range, I would guess 20-75, with majority towards the upper end, understandably for a band who formed half a century ago. But gratifying to see a lot of twenty somethings had obviously picked up on good music from long before they were born. 

Chris Apthomas

Jodi Ahmed

Jon Friesner

Sol Ahmed

Jonny Velon, youngest of the band on keyboards

The band played a half set, ie went off for an interval. Then returned with a banging second half. Below Chris added glasses to perform Once in a Lifetime, the song that broke Talking Heads in the UK

 They almost misjudged the encore. Most of the crowd were on their way out thinking that if the performance was two halves there wouldn't be an encore. But of course they had to finish up with Road to Nowhere.

So, were they any good? Heavens, yes. They were excellent. I am coming to appreciate tribute bands more and more. Given Talking Heads broke up in 1991 it is difficult to compare the to the real thing. Certainly there is no actual real thing to see now, so this is he best you can get. But I suspect if the real band were playing still, this would be the better option. They were fun, played excellently, sounded very good. Nice relaxed audience. They are from Bristol, but playing in London again in December, so I expect I will be tempted along again😀