Reviews
Artist: The Dealers
Venue: Best in Britain and Ireland Exhibition, ExCel Centre
Town: Docklands, London
Date: 27/03/09
Website: http://www.thedealersonline.com
Having grown up in Sussex, you'll probably understand why it hurts to write "Kent" and "Best in Britain" in the same sentence, but if you've ever been to the Broadstairs Folk Week, you'll have to admit that it is a phenomenon. Not only are there two main venues, but every pub hosts musical events throughout the week. Aware that few punters and many pubs would mean that each event might be sparesly attended, we went last year to support the Dealers, only to find that every pub in the area was so packed that at closing time the Police had to close the roads.
It is therefore no wonder that at the Exhibition of the Best in Britain and Ireland, the county of Kent promoted themselves with the Broadstairs Folk Week, almost certainly the best music festival in Britain.
Representing Broadstairs folk week was Pierre Vincent and Bessie Sayce, known as the Dealers (as they come from Deal), previously awarded the title of "Best Unsigned Act". This was the best band, representing the best music festival at an exhibition promoting the very best in the country.
The exhibition ran for both the Saturday, and the Sunday, with the Dealers perfoming on both days. We saw them on the Saturday.
Sadly, the turn-out at the exhibition wasn't great. Almost every rail line into London was subjected to major repair works, and owing to the G20 summit, (which is also going to be held at the ExCel centre), many protests had been planned in town, and the police, anticipating riots, had advised against travel to London. I expect that the Sunday would have been even quieter, as it would have been competing with the Oxford/Cambridge boat race. Those that did attend, were rewarded with a wonderful performance by the Dealers.
The backdrop to the stage was a picture of an old ruin, probably an abbey. To the right was a large flat screen TV displaying an image of a child running on a beach. The Dealers were delighted to recognise that it was a picture of Deal. These exhibitions aren't just thrown together.
Most of the material that the Dealer's perform is their own, but they do include the occassional cover. There are two rules governing their selection of covers. The original has to be perfect, and they have to be able to do it better. At the exhibition, they were playing to a strict time table so there was no time to include any covers (apart from the traditional "Well Below The Valley"), but if you ever see them perform Grace Slick's "White Rabbit", or Billie Holliday's "Strange Fruit", you'll see what I mean.
If you know their material, you'll know that one of their songs, "A Bitter Pill" is inspired by Quantum Physics. They might not even realise it themselves, but it seems to me that there is much else about their act that seems to have been inspired by nucleur physics.
For a start, I have seen them play several times now, and their set list is never the same. Science Fiction writers equate change with entropy and chaos, but maybe, Pierre and Bessie are emphasising that without change there would have been no big bang, no expandng Universe, no creation of electrons and protons, no formation of galaxies and no extinction of the dinosaurs. Alternatively, though, maybe change is just a way to ensure tha their material is always fresh.
I have often wondered whether Pierre's asymmetrical frock coats that he wears are intended to be indicative of the asymmetry in nature between the amount of matter and anti-matter created in the big bang.
On Saturday, Bessie was wearing a black dress and a pink fluffy coat, but she often wears a bodice, laced at the front. There is a possibility that this is intended to demonstrate that although, as yet, there is no multi-dimensional string theory capable of predicting the behaviour of matter, in two dimensions, a bit of string theory covers the essentials.
Perhaps the wave/material duality of nature is intimated by the way Bessie oscillates the material in the hem of her dress. Perhaps the duality of nature is intimated in the way Pierre uses his guitar, either as a stringed instrument, or by spinning it round to use it for percussion in "The Well Below The Valley".
Finally, it is possible that during "Was it me?", when Pierre leaves the stage to watch Bessie sing, or, as in the case at the ExCel, where he moved to a remote corner of the stage, he is demonstrating the Copenhagen Interpretation of physics that states that you can't define reality at the quantum level without taking into account the observer.
If only physics had been this beautiful at school.
Whether this was a lesson in quantum dynamics, or simply a brilliant performance, the show was over far too soon. There was no scheduled encore, as the stage had to be made ready for the next act.
All in all, this was a beatiful gig, by a beatiful couple, playing beautiful music, with a beautiful stage act, and demonstrating that even though there may be an economic crisis, the best of Britain is the best in the world. The Dealers truly are the best in Britain.
Sadly, no further Dealers' concerts are planned until late April, when they are playing at Chatham, showcasing their third album, currently in production, with a release date hopefully in time before the next Broadstairs folk week.
Set list was:
To Be With MeA Bitter Pill
I Was The First
Was It Me?
Five Minute Star
Cost
The Well Below The Valley
Wondering
Pete Bradley