Dirty Honey + Baby Said at O2 Academy 2, Birmingham on 11th February 2024

12 February 2024

Despite the rapidly dropping temperature outside, inside the O2 Academy things are starting to heat up with the arrival of tonight’s openers Baby Said. Fronted by two sisters, this quartet have a sound that defies easy categorisation; it is a smorgasbord of influences, a patchwork quilt of rock, grunge and punk that’s stitched together into something wholly original. Opening track (titled ‘Sweet Talk’, I believe) soon wins over a partisan crowd with its three-point harmonies and nifty beat. Actually, it’s the drumming that gives this crew their edge, and just like the Slits before them, they bring unique rhythms to the fore. Yet, Baby Said don’t overcomplicate things and never lose sight of melody and song structure, meaning cuts such as ‘Overload’ soon get the whole venue bobbing in unison. Delivering a tight thirty-minute set, Baby Said have won more than a few friends tonight, and belying the title of closer ‘Dead To Me’, they are very much alive and kicking.

Dirty Honey – Birmingham O2 Academy 2, 11th February 2024

The buzz currently surrounding Dirty Honey is comparable to that which greeted Guns ‘N’ Roses when they first burst on the scene in 1987, as a queue that snakes around the venue long before doors open attests. However, make no mistake, Dirty Honey are no overnight sensation and they’ve put in years of hard graft that’s turned them into gnarly road warriors. After last year’s UK club tour (reviewed here), the band have graduated to 600 capacity O2 Academy room, and I’ve no doubt that their upward trajectory will continue and next time they’ll be headlining the main venue. That’s an idea given credence as the band take to the stage and launch into the title-track of their sophomore album Can’t Find The Breaks (reviewed here). Like seasoned professionals, the band throw all the right shapes and generate a tangible air of excitement with their mere presence. Vocalist Marc LaBelle in particular, attired in shades and trademark hat, certainly looks the part and hangs off the mic like a viper from a vine. It’s standing room only as the band follow up with ‘California Dreamin’’, making the perfect one-two punch, and magically turns a damp Sunday in Birmingham into a sun-kissed Saturday in the Golden State.

As much as the mainstream media tries to deny the very existence of hard rock, there’s still a huge hunger for the blues-based variety that Dirty Honey peddle, and if proof were needed then the rapt attention the band command as they unleash ‘Get A Little High’ and ‘Scars’ should put any doubts to rest. Some might argue that Dirty Honey are reinventing the wheel with a sound that’s rooted in ’70s and ’80s rock, but hey, it it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The band are kind enough to wear their influences of their collective sleeve and treat us to an acoustic version The Rolling Stones’ ‘Honky Tonk Woman’ which, preceded by their own ‘Coming Home (Ballad Of The Shire)’, makes a nice interlude amongst the rockier tracks. Plugged back in and amplified, they tear through Aerosmith’s ‘Last Child’, and put an indelible stamp on a classic tune. Yet, the band have plenty of classics of their own such as ‘The Wire’ and ‘Another Last Time’, the latter of which finds Mr LaBelle singing atop the bar and toasting the crowd. Three encores cap an impressive set, with ‘Rolling 7’s’ closing the evening and leaving us with the impression that we’ve all witnessed something very special.

As many heritage bands start to shuffle off towards the great gig in the sky, a pressing question is who will be future stadium fillers. Dirty Honey is the answer.