It’s a Bank Holiday Monday in Hackney. We’ve bucked the trend of the traditional Bank Holiday washout, but it’s still a bit chilly, as proven by Hackney’s ever-reducing non-hipster population joining their millennial peers in donning beanie hats and faux fur Lucy & Yak jackets. Pretty lucky that we’re on our way into a packed-out show at Oslo then, eh?
The latest chapter in SON Estrella Galicia’s Hackney take over, this time in partnership with Bristol/Nottingham post-punk-alt-rock-shoegaze-art-pop extravaganza Dot to Dot Festival, sees a pair of duos take to the stage. It’s not often that you get two two-pieces on the same bill, something made even more exciting by the fact that they’re two of the UK’s fastest-growing acts, including a set of previous Dork cover stars.
Before Dork alumni BIG SPECIAL take the stage, London’s Good Health, Good Wealth open up proceedings, blowing away the Bank Holiday cobwebs with their blend of dry Cockney humour and defiantly sunny alt-dance backing. Bouncing around the stage with all the energy you’d expect from a band effortlessly rising to the top of the electronica scene, the pair have the crowd in the palm of their hand from the word go. Vocalist Bruce Breakey’s Mike Skinner-esque vocal contrasts beautifully with Simon Kuzmickas’ almost jazz-funk guitar lines and dancehall synth-pop. By the time we reach closer ‘Snatch’, replete with more acronyms than you could shake a stick at and a sample of Madness’ ‘My Girl’, the energy in the room is burning brighter than a Bank Holiday barbecue, gaining the lads even more fans than they had before.
It’s just over a month since the Black Country’s BIG SPECIAL sold out the biggest show of their career so far at the Kentish Town Forum, marking them out as one of the best live bands around. Walking out to PJ and Duncan’s ‘Let’s Get Ready To Rumble’ guarantees the quality of music can only go in one direction, before drummer Callum Moloney blasts ‘BLACK COUNTRY GOTHIC’ into existence, thus beginning this Monday Mass. To see BIG SPECIAL live is to witness a religious experience, with singer-slash-spoken-word-wonder Joe Hicklin’s lyrics screamed back to him as his vocals on ‘BLACK DOG/WHITE HORSE’ soar out into a crowd drinking in every morsel. His gloriously gravelly tones in ‘THIS HERE AIN’T WATER’ are balanced out by the tongue-in-cheek ‘I MOCK JOGGERS’ and fan-favourite ‘SHITHOUSE’, a track the crowd sing back with so much verve that it prompts Callum to admit, “We didn’t think we had that many fans in London!”
As the night nears its close, releasing the Church of the Big Special’s newly-converted back into the whistling wind of Hackney’s Mare Street, the congregation is treated to Not-Yet-Released Banger ‘Professionals’, before dirt-covered hymn ‘MONGREL’, heartfelt poem ‘FOR THE BIRDS’, and the simply anthemic ‘DiG!’, cause a clamour for an encore to reach fever pitch. It wouldn’t be a BIG SPECIAL gig without the boys entering the pulpit for a sweaty rendition of their 2023 debut single ‘TREES’, dragging with them a hi-hat and half a loaf of Hovis. The bread isn’t really explained, but the crowd gratefully accepts the offering like ducks in a pond. As the last ‘no peace/ no peace’ dissipates its way through the thick Oslo air, it’s fair to say that this latest exaltation can be described as another golden feather in BIG SPECIAL’s collective cap.
We take back what we said before. BIG SPECIAL aren’t just one of the best live bands around, they’re one of the best bands around. End of.
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