“When something’s good / It’s never gone.”
Fourteen years have passed since we last saw Dogs on stage at Dingwalls. Earlier this year, a shock post from their social media account announced they would support The Rifles at Olby’s Soul Café in Margate and the Pioneer Club in St. Albans. We were at both to witness their comeback.
It may have been The Rifles’ name up in lights in Margate, but night one belonged to the prodigal sons Johnny Cooke and Kevin Iverson. War stories from 100 Club gigs were swapped with the glee usually reserved for kids going to bed on Christmas Eve.
Chants of “We are the dogs” went up every few minutes. The atmosphere built with the electricity that diehard fans thought would never return. If this was supposed to be a bit of fun for Cooke and Iversen, it was anything but for the crowd.
Images courtesy of Sean Kelly.
The fourteen years of hurt never stopped us dreaming.
Cooke, visibly nervous, introduced himself with a whisper. The fallen icon riddled with self-doubt was eased back into things by Iversen’s divine version of ‘Turn Against This Land’. Step forward Dogs’ loyal fanbase. ‘Tarred and Feathered’ followed to unleash an outpouring of love, grief, regret, pain, angst, joy, and ecstasy.
I know that was then, but it could be again!
Cooke may have entered nervous, but he left victorious. He found his snarl on ‘This Stone Is a Bullet’ and ‘London Bridge’. His poetic cadence oozed its rhythmic flow on ‘By The River’, and on the classic ‘Tuned To A Different Station’, he found the voice that, for some, was one of its generation!
In the ode to Orwell’s ‘1984’ ‘Winston Smith’, the crowd is sent into a spin of emotion. The melodic uplift at “Because I know there's something / I just can't get to it” soared, releasing the torment of what might have been, what should have been for this eloquently powerful beast. A mini stage invasion ensued on ‘Dirty Little Shop’, sending memories of the 1234 Festival’s glorious chaos to the fore.
On night two in St. Albans, Cooke and Iverson were a different animal. The nerves banished, Cooke stepped into his role of performer, and their harmonies were enriching. It was less emotional, a more typical support slot of winning people over, and win they did.
It’s too soon to say if we have our band back, but we’re out of this jail and will be dreaming for now!