Because of course his debut album ‘
What’s Wrong With New York?’ pulls sonically from its namesake, but the presentation of it feels more influenced by the other side of the Atlantic. From the on-the-nose starter ‘Open Up’ - a track that lends itself to one of Britain’s specialities: chanting - The Dare graces the stage with Britpop-era arrogance, holding nothing back. We get it, too; the floor attendees are obviously going crazy, but despite multiple attempts from security to get the balcony dwellers to sit down, they don’t.
He powers through banger after banger, hitting ‘Good Time’, ‘Sex’ and ‘Perfume’ and peaking early at the manic ‘I Destroyed Disco’. He doesn’t talk much on stage; in fact, it’s better when he doesn’t. The illusion is so deliberately curated, it’s sort of a shame when the occasional one-liners break it a little.
With such a sparse discography - one album and one EP does not quite a headline show make - the hour is fleshed out with the unlikely cover of ‘I Can’t Escape Myself’ by British post-punk band The Sound. Even in its electroclash disguise, it’s a pretty harsh contrast to the hypersexual party tracks he’s become known for, if only for a minute before we’re blasted straight back into that world with a double bill of unreleased tracks ‘Freaky/Right’ and ‘Lights, Camera, Action!’.
The sheer number of hard hitters means those darker moments are incredibly stark when they arrive. Like ‘Elevation’, for which the relentless strobing is ditched for a single spotlight, and the thrashing around the stage is put aside for a stillness at the front of the stage.
