The last time I intended to go see The Holloways was as support for Babyshambles who inevitably cancelled… The Holloways still played a show that night, in a different venue, and despite not being able to make it along, I appreciated that they still played for their own fans—maybe touring with Pete Doherty you learn quick to make alternative arrangements as a backup. Tonight it's co-headliners The Wombats who don't show up—their singer has a sore throat—but this time The Holloways fans are the majority of the sold-out crowd so the show goes on, it's been a successful year after all.
The crowd are an unexpected mix to be honest, it's not just all teenage girls crushing on the band and teenage boys crushing on the teenage girl fans; there's an edgier look to some of the fans, some look like they've never worn eye-liner in their life—a rare thing at gigs these days and there's a group of ageing late-twenties lads in, swigging back the lagers in stereotypical lout manner. There's even a couple of us old enough to recognise the impromptu Kenneth Williams impression halfway through the set. Infamy, infamy…!
The Holloways themselves I find an awkward bunch to describe, frontman Alfie Jackson, appears to be straight out of a Dexy's Midnight Runners cover band; the tunes are touched by the Libertines' influence and range from indie bubblegum punk to calypso tinged 2-Tone style ska, with Rob Skipper throwing in shades of the Levellers via a tiger-striped old fiddle for many tunes. It's all very pop. And indie, and punk-ish and ska and dancehall.
The band are undeniably catchy, by the time Happy Birthday is sang for Alfie and the band follow up with, soon to be re-released,
Two Left Feet I want to be up there on stage with them and adored by such an enthusiastic crowd. And enthusiastic the crowd most emphatically are, raising visions of structural engineers being called in to check the dance floor after it seems to flex beyond recovery as the whole place bounces and sings along in perfect time. But the mood drops a little after this as they play a new song and then slide into slower, less well known, material. In fact my interest wanders so much that I only just notice them leaving the stage.
Luckily The Holloways have kept two of their best aces in store for the encore.
Great Britain provides a huge Specials-esque party jam and ending on
Generator ensures the audience leave happy, having bounced and danced to their heart's content. There may not be anything too original from The Holloways but this gig has convinced me that I'm not going to care while the music's playing, they can play an excellent dancehall show generating music to make you feel better and lift you out of that rut even if just for that hot & sweaty hour throwing yourself around in a heaving, dancing crowd.
www.the-holloways.com www.myspace.com/theholloways Gig photos courtesy of SpoiltCat.com 
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