Dirty Honey, Electric Ballroom, London 2024, full review by Dawn Osborne

Support were an all girl group ‘Baby Said’ centred on sisters Veronica and Jessica Pal. Full of the slight arrogance of youth, Jessica’s t-shirt says ‘In Your Dreams’, but they are full of pulchritude, talented and, apart from a slightly awkward silence at the start, when they got going, had the crowd eating out of their hands. There’s enough Pop Punk in their Rock for them to have mainstream success. Songs like ‘Panic Attack’ mine Gen Z’s transparent approach to challenging mental states and one of their only lengthy intros to a song tells the crowd to ‘keep going if you are suffering, if you feel like giving up you are not, you are more than you think’. Overall they are entertaining and went down well. Flawed to perfection.

Dirty Honey were inspired band-name wise from Robert Plant’s Honeydrippers and their Plant and Page obsession is worn on their sleeves. Retro is their middle name, and there is a sense of déjà vu about the melodies in some of their songs (Did anyone say ‘Nothing Else Matters’), but they wear it so well. They are one of the great hopes for our genre which cannot be sustained only by bands which began back in the day. It is, therefore, a bit of a relief to watch a younger band that has the sex appeal, chops, swagger and sense of what makes a great show, and on whose shoulders the next generation can stand. And whilst at times they sound like the Black Crowes, they are much more entertaining to watch.

As well as being able to perform Rock in the way it deserves to be seen, exemplified by covers from the Rolling Stones and Prince, they have a sense of what makes a banger when writing a song. They now have two albums and an EP full of great material to perform and they choose the best of their repertoire. Live, I actively notice how important the bass is to their live show with Justin Smolian who bears a passing resemblance to Slash (they have supported GNR in the past) and his thunderous bass riffs front and centre from the off. John Notto’s crying lead guitar solos are full of emotion and heritage (it doesn’t hurt that he looks like a mix of Page, Vai and Keifer). They also have a talented frontman Marc Labelle with a great R ‘n’ R voice sounding like Plant at times, but also Rod Stewart and Joplin, I find myself noting “he demonstrates a dexterous river of notes”. With impeccably cool togs, golden Plant curls and mike stand moves, he is up there with the greats in his ability to move a crowd. While none of them are conventionally handsome, on stage they are transformed into the kind of guys that get their clothes ripped off in Japan. I often bemoan when younger Rock bands dress like they are waiting at a bus stop and think it is ok to play looking at their shoes. Dirty Honey is the antidote to that kind of indolence.

Accordingly, since we all know that it doesn’t hurt to be sexy and talented, Camden lovingly embrace the band tonight. Labelle comments ‘Wild Tonight! London on a Monday! Can you imagine if we came back on a Friday.’ I have to agree with him. And with chart topping material like ‘Don’t Put Out The Fire’ in their armoury they came, saw and conquered. The Electric Ballroom is long and thin, but Labelle running up the fire escape and climbing on flight cases stored against a wall manages to penetrate the audience to reach even those hiding at the back. Before leaving he acknowledges ‘UK you showed us nothing but love from day one’ before declaring ‘we’ll always come back’, sending a set list made into a paper plane into the crowd before they leave with big smiles as Notto does the two handed finger-heart.

Old enough to know what they are doing, but young enough to flutter hearts, the band are the perfect combination for those who miss the days when Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and the Black Crowes were young men. We need bands like this to carry the torch. Yes please, come back soon!

Dawn Osborne