June 4, 2002

Breeders : Dublin Ambassador Theatre

...a bumblingly elegant, fantastically imperfect and impossible-to-take-your-eyes-off spectacle...

Who'd have thought that the Deals would manage to pull off the most exciting comeback since Kylie? Despite emerging from their booze/smack addiction/intra-band strife-enforced absence with both a new record, 'Title TK', and a new band, there were positively acres of room for Breeders to get it soooooo fucking wrong. Nine years since the sisters-in-arms last truly got their shit together, the return of Breeders could have been more of a musical car wreck than a comeback.

But in a world where rock's gone back to basics and Breeders has a personal audience with the Queen, Breeders actually make more sense than they did a decade ago. It's angular, ambitious, shambolic - and we're totally glued.

Arriving on stage, beers in hand, fags stuck to their bottom lips, the Deals look like the musical equivalent of blue-collar sitcom sisters Jackie and Roseanne Harris. Older material from 1990's compelling 'Pod', 1993's fizzing 'Last Splash' (including an infinitely fucked up, microphone gnawing take on notorious odd-pop hit, 'Cannonball') and between song banter throws sparkle onto what's otherwise a dark place to be. Newies like 'Little Fury' and 'Off You' manage to be both ambitious and compelling.

It makes for a bumblingly elegant, fantastically imperfect and impossible-to-take-your-eyes-off spectacle. Kylie's comeback might've involved baring ass, but Kelley and Kim's is just about kicking it.

Imran Ahmed