Gay Dad
Live at Leeds Festival 2001 on Friday, 24th August 2001
Despite all the bad press, Gay Dad still have the songs you can spin your gran round to. So, it was somewhat surprising to see the size of the crowd that had made the uphill trip to the Carling stage from the main arena.
It wasn't empty... just not as busy as it should have been. I mean, this is the same band that had everybody's knickers in a twist only a couple of years ago with their sleaze fuelled guitar power pop, right? Can a band lose it's vast fan base that quickly?
For those that did turn up, Gay Dad were keen to impress and remind everybody what the fuss was all about in the first place. Gone, unfortunately, are the glam clothes and camp mannerisms of the band's on-stage personas but still, the band still look like they have the drive and passion to keep the ball rolling. Drummer Baz Crowe still doesn't fail to impress with his unconventional style of percussion, instead looking like he's... ah-hem, doing something very naughty and well, the rest can be left to your imagination.
Cliff Jones has definitely toned down his stage presence and only speaks to introduce the next song. The hits of yesterday are here though, and they seem to re-ignite the passion and crowd numbers that seemed to be lacking at the start of the gig.
To Earth With Love still sounds as epic as it did the first time around and new song, Plane Going Down, signifies a more soulful side to the future sound of Gay Dad.
With the crowd increasingly becoming more and more excited by the performance it was interesting to see the biggest reaction be to oldie, Joy. Half way through the song however, due to what seemed to be on-stage sound difficulties, Bassist Nigel Hoyle threw his instrument to the ground in disgust and walked off, leaving the other two band members looking suitably confused. With Baz reluctantly following his band mate off stage it was up to enigmatic frontman Cliff Jones to finish the set off with an accapella version of the song they were attempting to play. With full vocal support from the audience it seemed that little more rock n' roll and special with Cliff saying goodbye to the sound of a few thousand impressed audience members chanting the band's name. Proving then, that there's life in 'The Dad' yet.
