Kebabathon
The Donnas have been around for a long time, fourteen years in fact, during which time they've produced seven albums, played Lollapalooza and Australia's Big Day Out. After all of that you'd forgive them for being a little disheartened about playing the smallest basement venue of Manchester's Academy but not a bit of it, they never stop smiling. This is due in no small part to the enthusiastic crowd, which whilst not that many in number give the band their all from start to finish.
There's one thing that you can't dispute about The Donnas; they are a great rock and roll band, period. From the opening chord to the last they serve up slab after slab of polished rock and roll and they do it as well as pretty much any other band you can think of. They have a heavy dose of AC/DC in the riffs, which come courtesy of the excellent Allison Robertson and the drumming of Torry Castellano was just made for this kind of music. Vocalist Brett Anderson (no not that one) does a fine job as front woman but if they do fall short in any department you'd have to concede that she doesn't have the greatest voice. There's nothing wrong with it but she lacks the power and range to really impress.
The set list tonight draws from every era of their back catalogue with the newer songs such as 'Wasted' fitting in alongside the older numbers ('All Messed Up', '5 O'Clock in the Morning') perfectly and therein lies the problem. The Donnas just never move on, they do their thing (& as noted already they do it very well) but that's all they do, half way through the set it's all becoming a bit one paced. Sure they tried to mature a little with the image & dropping the pseudonyms but then they put a track like 'Girl Talk' on the new album and it takes them right back to the level they were at ten years ago. Oh it has a great shout a long chorus but lyrically it's naive and in the context of the live set tonight it stretches credibility & frankly is a little embarrassing. It's not all bad though and when they crash into 'Fall Behind Me' you're reminded of just how good The Donnas can be.
They finish with an encore of 1998's 'You Make Me Hot' and old favourite 'Take It Off' with the crowd giving them a rousing send off. It's been an enjoyable performance despite the criticisms and The Donnas deserve respect for being able to last this long, particularly in such a male dominated field, they're just never going to set my world alight.