Concert Review: The Up-Doos at Ponsonby Social Club, 17 April 2021

On-stage in a flourish and the Up-Doos look fabulous. Long Black, Short Black and Gravid White (that’s outfits). A passion project for these talented professional artists. A homage to the great female artists of the Sixties and especially the Girl Group Sound. Which continued the explosion of Elvis after he got drafted, rewrote Rock’n’Roll history and was at the centre of Beatlemania.

They are Esther Stephens, Olivia Tenet and Aria Jones. The legend is they were birthed as a trio at Esther’s wedding when they sang Dedicated to the One I Love. Sweet and sassy and fertile and then there’s the music.

They start with Chapel of Love and it can stand up as the iconic song as much as any other presented tonight. Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greewich and Phil Spector as are a handful of others tonight which form one foundation stone of American Popular music. The Doos to it straight with a slightly lower register to the original from the Dixie Cups.

Please Mister Postman is the number one hit which launched Motown Records and also exploded with the Beatles. Esther sings the soulful lead. All three have been able to capture the resonance and power of the originals, and all the songs tonight are presented straight up, as we all know them.

They are a Tribute band, or a Covers band. But that is fine by me because the bottom line is that musically they are great and they nail the songs by faithfully recreating the originals.

Take Dedicated to the One I Love. From a seminal and still largely unknown band the Five Royales. A Black R’n’B group which took Gospel and Doo-Wop into the era of Sixties Soul and influenced every major African-American artist of that time. The smash hit came from the Shirelles and they did it twice. The lyrics are sweet but the delivery is empowering as the women take it over and Esther also takes the lead on this.

He’s a Rebel and Olivia leads. They replace the saxophone break in the middle with some doo-wop harmonies.

Da Doo Ron Ron is done straight. Be My Baby is slowed down a tad and becomes more atmospheric and spectral. The musicians drop down to emphasise the heartbeat rhythm.

The spirit of the late Phil Spector is all over this music and in everything that came after. But we also acknowledge you cannot separate the man he was from his artistic achievements.

Some of the finest female singers of the Sixties worked behind the confines of Motown, who were busy trying to present Black artists as Whitewashed and acceptable to White America.

The trio cover Martha and the Vandella’s Nowhere To Run and the Supreme’s You Can’t Hurry Love. Nice R’n’B lead from Aria on the Supreme’s song and she gives it a good soulful punch. The Vandella’s song is an extraordinary passion tale which came straight out of the Sixties Black Lives Matter turbulence and they reproduce the song with the same powerful sound.

This is a very broad canvas to cover and they keep pulling in classic songs whilst maintaining the quality of presentation.

Sally Go Round the Roses by the Jaynetts is a mysterious, spooky song and again breaks the mold of its seemingly mundane lost love lyrics.

Leader of the Pack from the Shangri-La’s. Melodrama, theatre and a whole movie packed into one three-minute song. The original group were proto-feminists and they sang it in ironic fashion, detached from all that sentimentality. The Doos approach this in the same fashion and from somewhere in the back the musicians come up with the sound of motorbikes revving.

They keep up the standard and quality throughout the two sets. Selecting with impeccable taste.

A delightful romp with the Bobettes Mr Lee. Aria takes the lead on the Exciters Tell Him and excels on the vocal swoops.

One Fine Day. Classic Doo-Wop to Spiritual Soul and a straight version of this has great power in an intimate live venue. My sweet Lord!

The group work up some great, uplifting energy. But it still takes a solitary male to start the dance and then implores everyone else to get up and fucking dance! The Ponsonby Social is sold out and cheering each song but it takes an effort to get them up to shake and shimmy.

The Up-Doos have curated a set of classic songs that would satisfy any obsessive (like myself). They also have the sheer sonic impact down sweet and on the money. It takes a lot of talent to do that. There is always more you would like to hear but what do you leave out?

Rev Orange Peel