To be honest, I don’t really know why I bought a ticket for this gig. I’d last seen The Donnas at ULU and they were frankly rubbish. The unknown (at the time) support band Sahara Hotnights were 20 times better than The Donnas without even trying. Still, I got a ticket anyway and on Monday night I made my way up to Highbury for the gig. Before going to the Garage I went to the Wig and Gown to meet Sean. Newcastle vs West Ham was on Sky and, apparently, this is the best pub in the area to watch football in. I have to admit that it does have its charms – Leffe and Hoegaarden on tap being two of the most obvious. However, I still prefer the big screen of the Paxton. Sean turned up approaching seven and the pub began to fill up. Sean vanished for a while to acquire chips which he then proceeded to feed half of to the gathered squirrels in the nearby park :-)

At about 8:15 or so, with only 15 minutes of the match gone I decided to make my way to the Garage. Sean had spoken to Ben earlier in the evening and discovered that The Donnas were on at 9:15 and the whole thing was due to be over by 10:15 – well early for the Garage! I didn’t manage any dinner – instead snacking on a Flapjack before entering the venue…

Mika Bomb were already on stage when I got in – according to the door times, Mika Bomb were on at 8 and The Donnas at 9! Eight quid for two bands and a 10pm finish time is totally shit if you ask me, especially when you’re paying nearly three quid a pint on top of that. Anyway, I spent a pleasant 20 minutes or so watching Mika Bomb’s catchy spiky buzzsaw Japanese pop – I doubt they’ll ever make it big but they appear to make people smile and pick up a few new fans each time they play. They’ve been around for eons now so I really can’t dislike them… Still, I wouldn’t pay to watch them do a headline gig.

After Mika Bomb were done I went to the bar and got my second Staropramen of the night. Very nice. I looked around for Ben but couldn’t see him at the back. I suddenly spotted him on stage helping to set up The Donnas so I wandered down to the front for a better view. It seemed like an age before The Donnas came on but when they did come on and started their set I was shocked and immediately excited. Gone is the not-too-well-played ropey rock punk hybrid and in its place has appeared the new ROCK AND ROLL \m/ \m/ Donnas! They played lots of new stuff and old stuff including an awesome “Checkin It Out” and were truly on fire. It’s difficult to describe how they’ve changed because it was so surprising but I can say that they must have been practicing for months for this – the guitar player did some funny cock rock solos and the singer flicked her hair back constantly and just exuded a sexiness that I haven’t seen from her before. The drummer’s style still reminds me of Animal from the Muppets though haha! This was the surprise set of the year, to say the least. I was very very impressed with this powerhouse style and will definitely be going to see The Donnas the next time they come back to England. Oh yeah, one thing to mention – towards the end of the set they managed to blow out half the mixing desk. However, I’m not convinced this wasn’t contrived because as soon as the song finished, everything was magically working again. Very funny all the same ;-)

When I got home I logged onto the Fracture Forum to see a message from DS to the effect of “guess who we saw entering the Donnas gig tonight haha”. All I can say is, sorry it’s not cool but if you weren’t there then you missed a treat. Fingers crossed it wasn’t just a fluke!

--Chris