A lightning storm in a bottle as Dilly Dally take The Lexington

Dilly Dally’s debut album ‘Sore’ sees the band on the very edge of disaster. Sugar coated hooks dangle next to broken glass melodies giving the whole affair a sense of wonderful danger. Months on the road haven’t dulled any of the edges though and tonight at The Lexington, the home stretch of the band’s European tour, Dilly Dally storm the place with whole-hearted reckless abandon.

Tigercub are far more caring. Nestling moments of sunshine pop beneath big, grimy movements, the three-piece are fluid in their wants. From the hammer of ‘Rich Boy’, “our own personal fuck you to David Cameron”, through the pendulum swing of ‘Bittersweet Motherfucker’ to the crushing flourish of ‘Destroy’, the band are frustrated but motivated. It’s an attitude that spearheads their live show and gifts them a single-minded determination, making them impossible to pull away from.

By comparison, Dilly Dally is sheer chaos. Skirting about the stage and tumbling from song to song, the band carry a nervous energy. The songs are more urgent, more on-edge, more fraught with the emotional weight that inspired them and it’s a marvel to watch. Think the charm of ‘I Bet You Look On The Dancefloor’, maintained and twisted over the course of an evening. Tonight, Dilly Dally are a flickering flame toying with the idea of being burning out or torching everything that surround them. A decision is never made but somehow, the band have captured a lightning storm in a bottle. It’s impossible to look away.

In-between the wicked games of ‘Purple Rage', the rag-tag beauty of ‘Witch Man’ and the snarling want of ‘Desire’, the band glances out at the sold out crowd and breaks out in smirks of pride, disbelief and wonder. Anything can happen in the next half hour but Dilly Dally are in no danger of ever being anything less than a spectacle to behold.