Electric Six – Queens Hall – Edinburgh – 30th November 2024

1st December 2024 0 By Jon Deaux

My colleague and I arrived at the venue, picked up the tickets, and found an appropriate place to sit down and get comfy cozy for the support act Vnity Fairy to impress us as the opening act.

We got chatting with the sound guy who was just in front of us who told us that Electric Six would be performing a ‘stupidly’ long set as Vanity Fairy had called in sick.

At 8:15pm Electric Six took to the stage. Before I go on, I feel I need to clarify a couple of things at this point. The Doors (who I still haven’t seen yet, but they seem to be at every show.) were at 7pm. Vanity Fairy was due on stage at 8 pm and play for 30 minutes and Electric Six were due to go on at 9 pm to play for roughly 90 minutes.

Of course, Dick Valentine apologized on behalf of Vanity Fairy and said that they were told they could have a last-minute local band open for them instead. However, upon discussion, they decided they’d open for themselves and play an ‘Amuse-bouche’ set before taking a break and returning for a ‘hits’ set.

Kicking off with Turquoise and Dr.K, we thought we were settling for the boys playing their latest offering Turquoise in its entirety. Oh, how wrong we were. Pulling The Plug On The Party was swiftly followed by I Don’t Like You and Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother).

At this point, it was brought to the audience’s attention that a 3rd track from their latest album Turquoise was to be played as the record company had contractually told them to do so or they wouldn’t be paid. Of course, this was all tongue-in-cheek and much laughter between the band and the audience ensued before launching into Staten Island Ass Squad.

This impromptu set was magnificent and you could see Electric Six were having an absolute blast performing an impromptu set for a very ravenous Edinburgh crowd.

14 songs were performed for the self-proclaimed Amuse-bouches set.

After a brief intermission, where people buggered off to the bar or took a smoke break. The band reappeared for set number 2 or what Dick Valentine had described as ‘the hits’ set.

For a further 90 minutes, Dick and the gang treated us like royalty by performing a further 19 tracks culminating with Murder On The Dancefloor (the Sophie Ellis Bextor classic). It was joyous and unexpected. We’d already had not just the surprise set but also a further surprise tucked into the main set, (Who the Hell Just) Call My Phone? (played in between “Stop!” and “Continue!” during “Improper Dancing”) being a prime example.

Of course, the largest responses of the night went to Gay Bar and Danger! High Voltage. Unfortunately, it was at this point that the inevitable ‘let’s watch these from behind a screen’ moments ruined our view but not the experience.

It’s a night that is going to be hard to forget or even convey to people how special the show was, as it was a guess of what they were going to play next.

A constant string of surprises including the announcement of a 16th studio record, was indeed well worth the entrance fee.
Electric Six, I salute you. Not just for performing 2 sets but the deep dive tracks from your discography.