On Saturday night I watched Duke Special at the Empire in Belfast, backed by the Mystery Men. The latter were actually the guys from General Fiasco, who permitted the Duke to rock as never before. The amplification was up, guitars were set to fuzz and shapes were thrown. The Duke has been determined to make each of his Empire shows a singular experience and this show was surely a big investment in terms of rehearsal effort.
Tunes were played from each of their songbooks. Additionally there was 鈥楢labama Song鈥�, head-spinning cabaret from Becht / Weill, also favoured by The Doors, plus selections from Wilco, Magnetic Fields and Ivor Cutler. Late in the evening there was also a rumbling approach at The Pixies and 鈥楳onkey鈥檚 Gone To Heaven鈥�. Up in the balcony, a gaggle of blonde folk, mistakenly imported from BT9, looked confused.
Near the end, General Fiasco suggested this this was their last ever show, certainly for the foreseeable. There were a few gasps and appreciative noises. Their final gesture was to stomp across the Duke Special tune, 鈥楽alvation Tambourine鈥� and then take a valedictory bow.
General Fiasco did everything you might expect from a band with purpose and energy. I saw the band take shape from the debris of The Tides. They released two fine albums. They took to the UK in a van, living on a scrounge diet, sleeping in the vehicle and sustaining the tour on merchandise income. I saw them on festival stages and at聽SXSW in Austin Texas, where they discharged energy on the Latitude stage.
In another era, there would have been a major record company deal and a bigger fuss. But unfortunately, the context was tough, the budgets were fraught and that chance was withheld. It鈥檚 likely that their talents will resurface 鈥� some of their band have recently worked with the likes of Desert Hearts and VerseChorusVerse. The tenacity that was outlined in 鈥楻ebel Get By鈥� - a mission statement as much as a song - will hopefully still hold.