Dead Pony have been making a big name for themselves over the last couple of years ,with their rousing sets at Slam Dunk Festival just a couple of weekends ago in particular gathering lots of attention. Despite a number of high-profile support slots over the years, the Glaswegian rock outfit have surprisingly never actually headlined a show in Wales until tonight. The packed out “Globe” is swelteringing hot as is referenced a number of times throughout the night, but that doesn’t stop the crowd from wanting to get involved.
In the minutes leading up to the show, guitarist Blair Crichton dons the stage and demands that we don’t let them down for the show they’re about to put on. Several old school nu-metal tunes over the PA later and the band triumphantly grace the stage to a mash up of Limp Bizkit and Basement Jaxx. Celebrating the release of their latest EP “Eat My Dust!”, they kick off with said title track; with a whole lot of energy right from the off. The riffs build and build to the “3,2,1” countdown and like the lyrics say, they show us how they run this town. The Batman inspired stand-alone single, “Everything Burns” keeps things going in equally strong fashion and feels like a throwback to the bands of the late 90’s and early 00’s who inspired them. It’s then followed by “Freak Like Me” which sees frontwoman Anna Shields donning a polaroid picture within her outfit as she commands the stage, before gifting it to a fan in the front row.
As they unleash “Fury” amongst the crowd, the pit is at its biggest yet and you can feel the bass coming through the speakers in every fibre of your body. For those following their story on social media as well, we get an explanation as to why certain instruments haven’t made it past Sheffield on the tour (RIP Beer Keg). Shields asks the crowd to sing along with “RAINBOWS” as loud as they can and even finds herself in the midst of her Celtic brothers and sisters towards the end of it all.
Despite the plethora of bangers they have at their disposal, the highlight of the set comes when they are “taking it back to Woodstock 99” with a rousing cover of Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know”. For a song that is over three decades old, it’s made to feel incredibly fresh with soaring vocals and a tightness amongst the band which you can’t help but nod and bounce along to.
We go back to the hits from their debut album again, starting off with “COBRA” which provokes the biggest movement within the audience thus far. Personal favourite “MANA” is equally lively from the moment the sirens blare out until the three minutes later when the pit is significantly sweatier and more out of breath than before. Every song tonight is performed with an exuberance and energy, which given the temperature in the room, is no mean feat. Ever snare hit and every build up to a breakdown feels as exciting as the previous.
“IGNORE THIS” rounds things off with what feels like a wonderfully youthful chaos personified within a song. The floor moves and we even get the first of our crowd surfers towards the climax. Still time for one more, Sheilds teases the crowd with what they want to hear for a finale. Amongst the voices in the room, many are calling out for “23” but as she points out; “This isn’t the fucking 23 tour, this is the Eat My Dust tour”, as they reprise their opening song for a second time in the night. However, nobody here seems to have any complaints with that as the move and sing along even more so then they did an hour ago. After an hour of raucousness, it’s fair to say that the Cardiff crowd have gotten their money’s worth tonight. I think we can expect to see them in the Welsh capital again hopefully a lot sooner than later next time around; “Great Hall next time anyone?” they playfully ask.
