2025/03/08 – Doves – o2 Institute, Birmingham

Glenn 09/03/202501/05/2025 Andy Williams, Birmingham, Black & White Town, Carousels, Caught By The River, Cold Dreaming, Comeback, concert, Concert Review, Constellations For the Lonely, doves, Firesuite, Gig, Gig Review, Hannah Ashcroft, Here It Comes, Jez Williams, jimi goodwin, Last Year's Man, live music, live review, Live Show, Main Room, o2, o2 institute, Pounding, Renegade, snowden, sold out, Spaceface, Strange Weather, the last broadcast, The Universal Want, There Goes The Fear, UK Tour, Words

Review & Photos: G. Rossington.

Recently returned with their sixth record ‘Constellations for The Lonely’, Manchester’s Doves returned to the live arena in the midst of a UK Tour, albeit without frontman Jimi Goodwin.

On a warm early Spring evening, the o2 Institute is virtually at full capacity as opener Hannah Ashcroft takes to the stage. She instantly warms the souls of those in attendance as she powers her way through a handful of solo acoustic numbers. Her imitable charm was warmly accepted and by the end of her intimate 30-minute set, you felt rewarded and keen to hear more.

So the question remained, without their frontman, just how would a live Doves show work? After a handful of intimate dates last October, the revitalised live band is lucky enough that both Andy and Jez Williams are multi-instrumentalists as well as vocalists.

Opening with dimmed lights and a black and white video showcasing a lighthouse and images from the recent records’ artwork, the band saunter on stage and launch in to a frantic version of ‘Firesuite’. This segues nicely in to ‘Carousels’ taken from 2020’s comeback record ‘The Universal Want’.

Throughout the remainder of the show, we are treated to many hits from the bands’ back catalogue including; ‘Words’, ‘Here It Comes’, ‘Snowden’, ‘Pounding’ and ‘The Last Broadcast’. Prior to the latter, Jez declares that Jimi is with us in spirit and was adamant that the band continue on the road whilst he recovers.

‘Cold Dreaming’, ‘Last Year’s Man’, ‘Renegade’ and ‘Strange Weather’ showcase the recent sixth album. The addictive choruses and well structured melodies prove that Doves can still craft a fine tune, evident by the huge singalongs from the capacity audience tonight.

To close out the main set we get the beautifully euphoric ‘Caught By The River’ which, sees in some parts, the audience lift up their phones with lights on which elevates the mood. This was one of those songs that did miss Jimi’s distinctive husky tones, but Jez and the audience made it their own. ‘Black & White Town’ is the final song and gets a more bluesy makeover, particularly in the outro.

Clearly hungry for more, the audience do the traditional clapping and howling as the band return for an encore. ‘The Cedar Room’ kicks us off and instantly reminds us all of why we fell in love with the band. The haunting and euphoric melody enchants everyone in the room.

‘Kingdom of Rust’ follows and ‘There Goes The Fear’ brings the night to a fantastic close. But it is the final track, reverting back to their original incarnation of Sub Sub and performing ‘Spaceface’ that ends the show perfectly.

They may be Doves 2.0 right now, but they reminded us all of just how special a band they are, why they got to the mainstream attention in the first place and we are all awaiting the day that Jez, Andy and Jimi return fully.