The Duke Spirit : Live

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/thedukespiritjuly30.jpg" alt=" " />Old-school British rock ‘n’ roll invaded the Big Apple when The Duke Spirit came to town....

  Continuing their string of opening for great acts, London’s Duke Spirit opened up for classic Anglo-rockers Supergrass (QRO photos) at Manhattan’s large Webster Hall (QRO venue review) on Wednesday, July 30th.  The band’s driving sound, combined with the ever-eye-grabbing singer Leila Moss doing strong frontwoman duties, made for a high-energy performance.

Touring on the back of this year’s sophomore LP, Neptune (QRO review), The Duke Spirit stuck almost entirely to that record, opening with it’s effective starter, “Send a Little Love Token” (there’s a sub-minute-long heavy, heavy reverb “I Do Believe” before “Token” on Neptune).  The pressing rock-crash really set things off right, into the sixties grand hippie-rock of “Lassoo”.  The Spirit could have gone over-the-top from there, but wisely tempered the night with the spooky haunt, “Dog Roses”, before returning to the darker side of the British Invasion on “My Sunken Treasure”, their latest single.

But the pinnacle of the evening was still yet to come, thanks to the band’s first single, “The Step and the Walk”.  Even more anthemistic than “Lassoo” or “Treasure”, “Step” really had the crowd of thick Supergrass fans a-rockin’.  And this fire burned even hotter with the driving rock explosion, “Into the Fold”.  From there, The Duke Spirit did slip somewhat, with the slow and touching “Wooden Heart” a bit too much of a shift, despite its build at the end, and the grinding “This Ship Was Built To Last” too alt-metal.  But then the band brought it all back with “Love Is an Unfamiliar Name”, the last single off their 2005 debut LP, Cuts Across the Land.  Its sixties-rock had a catch that rang in the crowd’s ears well into Supergrass.

Heading from New York to a Northeast/Mid-West tour in August, including stops in Pennsylvania for the Download & New American Union Festivals (QRO Festival Guide), The Duke Spirit rock hard and right.  And with Leila Moss playing like the most ultra-rock chick seventies icon you can imagine, these Brits will make waves here across the waves.

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Concert Reviews
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