A bomb skare in the dread zone.

It's my son's 10th birthday next week but he's getting one present early. Danny Buster will attend his first ever gig tonight, the awesome Dreadzone are playing Exeter again. If you haven't seen Dreadzone live you're missing out, they are without doubt one of the greatest live acts I've ever seen. Despite them never achieving a whole lot of chart success I'd put them up alongside The Blockheads & Madness in the top 3 of my 'seen live' list. Here's a taster of what Dan can expect tonight:

I couldn't find many decent YouTube vids of them live, probably because anyone at a Dreadzone gig is too busy bouncing to be bothered filming it! Alongside Little Britain, this is Dan's fave Dreadzone tune:

When I asked Dan what he wanted to wear to the gig he seemed a bit concerned. He asked if it was ok to wear the t-shirt of another band to a gig, thinking it was like footie; he said you wouldn't wear a Man U shirt to a Chelsea game. I wouldn't wear a Man U shirt to clean out a cesspit but that's besides the point, I assured Dan he could wear any shirt he wanted to.

So Dan will be proudly sporting one of his most treasured possessions tonight - his Bombskare t-shirt. Dan sat in with me on my SFR show a few weeks back and absolutely loved it, he'd been nagging me for ages about joining in on the (internet) radio. I play a fair bit of Bombskare, quite simply because I think they're the best ska band around today. 

Dan mentioned in the chat-box that he loved their stuff and the band sent him 2 t-shirts, some stickers and a signed cd (which I've put in my cd cupboard, for safe-keeping obviously!) When Dan did his own show a couple of weeks later he played Bombskare again and also played Dreadzone. Like all proud Dads I love that my son shares my interests and think it's absolutely brilliant that a band would take an interest in a kid as young as Dan. Getting that package from Scotland made his month let alone his day! Like they said when I thanked them, anything that helps foster a lifelong interest in music has got to be worth doing. Thanks chaps.

I don't do New Year resolutions as a rule but this year I resolve to see some live music every month. If Dreadzone are touring again we'll be there. I'm definitely going to catch The Simmertones again coz they were bloody brilliant a few weeks ago but top of my list is to get me & the lad to a Bombskare gig - I think a summer holiday in Scotland may be in order (do they have a summer in Scotland?)

Update: the gig was as awesome as I'd hoped. The band put on a blinding show, the venue was great - good to see Dreadzone at the Phoenix instead of the Lemon Grove, the crowd were good natured and enthusiastic and the amount of attention Dan got made him feel really special (his words).