The Return of The Duke.

There are somethings that will always be terrifying, watching The Shining in the dark, Nazi Zombies, both in real life and on Call of Duty, Alexandra Burkes ego, and The Marmaduke Duke live show. The venue hosting the first show of this week long tour, their first in three years or so, was The Bongo Club in Edinburgh, if it wasn't for the terrible, highly incompetant bar staff it would be a decent wee place, they even let us smoke in the dressing room. Well, not exactly let us, but they only noticed at the end of the night and told us it was non smoking, to which we all made out it was brand new information, 'no smoking you say? sorry, we didn't know.' So Edinburgh priced drinks and incapable bartenders aside The Duke took the stage to a hell of an ovation. Led on by a six foot funky disco Errol Flynn in a Don Johnson cast off, the band were cloaked, masked and feathered. A large amount of patrons had also made the effort, top hats, capes and weapons littered the crammed venue, I felt under dressed with my slacks, jumper and handsome face. The set thundered into life with the exceptional False and Cinematic, quite possibly their best song, and from there it was a collection of their best cuts from both joints released thus far, sadly Je Suis Un Funky Homme was missing, but you can't have it all I guess. During the insane 'Demon' the poor chap next to me looked completely befuddled, I pictured what was going on inside his head, and from what I could gather he was a little girl with pigtails in downtown Baghdad, crying in the corner amidst a carpet bombing. It was around this point in the show when the bar closed, there are few things as defeating as someone closing a bar shutter right in your face, especially at ten o'clock at night. Just another reason not to return to this potentially good venue.

Marmaduke Duke are in your face, gloriously so, they care not for your ear drums nor your feelings, they will not play an encore and they will remain silent during the breaks. All together it is a very surreal experience, and with so much music around these days it takes something special to stand out, and when the band is made up of two of Scotlands best bands there is little doubt that it will be anything but unique, intricate and completely ferocious. The Atmosphere spent as much time in the crowd as he did on the stage, wearing a mask that is best described as terrifying, combined with his beard and hair it was what nightmares are made of. The Dragon, hooded, bearded and vibed did what he knows best and rocked the shiznit out of the songs, the two drummers and the bass were hidden from my sight because I seem to get shorter at every gig I attend, and it didn't help that one guy in front of me was also so fat that he eclipsed the stage. He moved, however, when I leaned forward and told him they were giving away free deep fried pizza and chocolate dipping sauce at the front door. 'The Duke' will be on tour all week, playing such venues as The Deaf Institute in Manchester, a social club in Leeds, gay haven Heaven, and even gayer... Glasgow Art School, it's clear that they are not an average band. Their outfits could influence people either way, if it wasn't for the music, a collection of some of the finest riffs, beautiful melodies and incredible lyrics. Some bands would do well to take note. Image is all very well, but if you don't have the songs to back up the image then, thankfully, you will dissapear as quickly as you arrived.