Dashboard Confessional, Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Heading to the bar pre-gig, I squeezed past Wulfrun regulars, loyal fans from miles away, and a small, unobtrusive guy with quiffy hair and a soft quiet American accent. Woah, back up, just barged passed Chris Carrabba that is Dashboard Confessional, politely signing proffered tickets/album covers/body parts! Its hard to believe that this tiny guy that emits the soul-wrenchingly powerful ballads that hold the audience on tenterhooks, controlling them with one twitch of an eyebrow.
This unexpected fan pleasing experience was followed by a doubly surprising early entrance onto stage to play a quick solo of Swiss Army Romance whilst the support act got sorted – “Couldn’t wait to get on stage!” Chris grinned. Dashboard later strolled onto stage and picked up their instruments like it was the least daunting thing in the world – not the first date of a long awaited UK tour promoting their new album.
Favourite oldies like The Brilliant Dance lulled the audience into a swaying mass before being picked up into epic performances of Screaming Infidelities and Bend not Break. Handing parts of the songs over to the fans ensured a happy wailing audience, even over ringing ears from the tone-deaf guy behind (grr). Whilst feeling a bit guilty not knowing every word to every song in the set I was put at ease by the refreshing expression of pure enjoyment on front man Chris’s face!
After the sad but inevitable exit from stage, and after the required amount of cheering and foot stamping, D.C. eventually returned to play one last song “from the heart” Chris explained a tad cheesily. Following an amazing rendition of Hands Down the crowd were left feeling uplifted and enlightened, even the random oldies left smiling! The luminous, soulful performance given by Dashboard Confessional tours on, stopping at Glasgow Manchester, and London.
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