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The Doves have been around for over a decade now but whereas others of their generation have gone from strength to strength (Elbow winning the Mercury Music Prize and Snow Patrol achieving chart dominance), the Manchester band have quietly gone about their business.
As their recently released greatest hits proves, the band have a stockroom full of big songs most of which were played tonight. Their atmospheric form of indie rock was supplemented beautifully by the clear summer evening, a lone star getting a dedication in the process. The crowd were also clearly up for the occasion, cheering and singing along to the bands biggest hits such as Pounding and Andalucia.
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Doves have a reputation of quietly going about their live performances and struggle to reproduce their complex, layered sound on stage. The band had clearly been aware of this criticism and wanted to use the performance in the Forest to show their ability. In between songs they were happy to interact with the crowd, thanking them for missing a certain sporting event on at the same time and mocking a crowd member for bringing a much maligned vuvuzela.
Thetford Forest also needs to be commended on its part in the evenings proceedings. Driving to the Lodge involves winding roads and a journey through dense trees before opening up into a clearing where, as the sun sets behind you, makes the venue truly magical.
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As people relaxed in their deck chairs or played football with their children (substituting a football with pine cones in some cases), an evening of relaxation and good music was clearly on the cards.
Despite the band embarking on a self imposed hiatus from recording, the gig tonight has shown us what their fans will be missing during their absence.
David Hopley
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