The Dust Coda final leg of their UK headline tour, hosted in Dingwalls, Camden, could only mean one thing: rock ‘n’ roll mayhem madness was ready. With their newly dropped record Loco Paradise under their arms, along with the accolade of a Guns N’ Roses support slot and critical album acclaim, this was set to be one hell of a good time.
The Dust Coda
Dingwalls, London – 28 October 2023.
Words: Monty Sewell
John Drake on lead vocals and guitar, Adam Mackie on lead guitar, Tony Ho on bass, and Scott Miller on drums. In an ode to the horn-bearing gods that define them, they opened with Rock ‘n’ Roll Paradise.
The ever-leather-clad audience beckoned into The Dust Coda grip with top track Limbo Man before continuing to play through the best of their three album discography.
The onstage chemistry was there in all its knuckle-into-ground glory, the guys visibly engaging every ounce of their hard rock personas, giving all they had for this last hoorah.
Tracks from the new album like Come The Night, Love Sick, The Streets, Free All The Dancers and Call Out The Dogs were given the live treatment; a fire behind each word rasp howled from Drake. A true classic rock vocalist, he drenched each top note soar with a gritty presence. Accompanied by Mackie on guitar, they slide each number into solo-ready crescendo-fueled spectacles.
A tender moment within the rocket-charged set comes with an acoustic version of the new song Since You’ve Been Gone. Drake stood alone as the crowd quietened to let the echoing tones of heartbreak and yearning ripple out across the venue.
But that is what’s so humbly brilliant about this band. Their tracks move, they excite, they throw the listener off the edge of their seat before hitching them back up with some elated club of a riff. It is a diverse set like no other and a reminder of why us rockers love what we love.
There are a few more surprise numbers like Down in the Valley from their debut 2017 album before a whopping great sign-off with new front-runner Road to Hell.
Though the night marked the end of their tour, I am sure it will not be long before they return. Perhaps with the arenas in mind? With a sound that big, I would not be surprised.
Great band, elevated by the soaring rasp of John Drake’s granite-hewn voice. Ducking great.