Dananananaykroyd @ O2 ABC, 29 October

Live Review by Chris Buckle | 11 Nov 2011

It’s in no way a slight to suggest United Fruit are pretty peripheral to tonight’s euphoric highs. They hurl out riff after riff with dependable vigour, but stage left, the slowly snaking queue for the merchandise stand indicates the anticipation with which the ABC awaits its headliners.

Dananananaykroyd’s ‘closing down’ sale sees brisk business as fans clamour for last-chance mementos of a soon-to-be fondly-remembered career. Technical gremlins mute David Roy’s guitar for the opening number, forcing early improv from the band’s irrepressible vocalists (“I said to myself before tonight, ‘don’t turn it into a stand-up show…’” Calum deadpans as the jinx drags out the banter), but a lead swap later and then they’re off, with all the zeal fans have come to expect.

It’s a full-house of highlights: the disco swagger of farewell single Think and Feel makes their impending dissolve all the more bittersweet; The Greater Than Symbol and the Hash socks the crowd with a nostalgic sissy hit; while the ‘Wall of Cuddles’ is resurrected for the encore, as Some Dresses rounds out the sextet’s tenure on the Scottish live scene. And then it’s over: but in the words of their almost-namesake (after accidentally conjuring a giant marshmallow man, blowing up a high-rise, and getting sued by half of New York): yeah, but what a ride.

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