The Duckworth Lewis Method… Lording it up

Live review: Duckworth Lewis Method at Lord’s Cricket Ground

Published on July 11th, 2013 | Jonny Abrams

They said it couldn’t be done…well, we don’t recall anyone actually saying as much, but The Duckworth Lewis Method went ahead and made two great albums about cricket anyway.

Sticky Wickets, the second of these, was last week the recipient of a salivating four-and-a-half-quail review on these very pages, so it was with no little self-satisfaction that Rocksucker toddled off to none other than Lord’s Cricket Ground to see the chaps perform tracks from both records over a Pimm’s or three.

In addition to being two of the finest songwriters going, Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh are also two of the funniest; as such they could scarcely be any more engaging in an intimate setting such as the function room cordoned off for this pre-Ashes set, kicked off with the new LP’s opening/title track.

Hannon, Walsh and guitarist Tosh Flood form a trident of falsetto singing at the front of this stage for this ’70s Who-esque rocker before the Divine Comedy man takes his place behind a piano for airings of “Age of Revolution”, “Gentlemen and Players”, “Boom Boom Afridi”, “Sweet Spot” and the mighty “Jiggery Pokery”.

The Divine Comedy fulcrum resumes his position stood next to a splendidly behatted Walsh for a quite hilarious, mic-hugging delivery of “Line and Length”, while his Pugwash counterpart wraps his syrupy gift of a voice around the room for the wonderful “Out in the Middle”.

All the while, The Duckworth Lewis Method are accompanied by “Barmy Army” trumpeter Billy Cooper, who is banned from, er, parping on his horn during Lord’s matches so no doubt took great delight in exploiting this loophole-of-sorts.

“It’s Just Not Cricket”…”The Laughing Cavaliers”…”Meeting Mr Miandad”…the DLM are an absolute riot, and you needn’t even know all that much about cricket to share in the bonhomie. As long as you appreciate great pop songwriting overflowing with character, you’ll be hit for six (sorry).

The Duckworth Lewis Method finish up, dash off, then later return for an onstage Q&A followed by another performance of the set. Ashes to Ashes, Duckworth to Lewis.

Sticky Wickets is out now on Divine Comedy Records.

You can buy Sticky Wickets on iTunes and on Amazon.

Rocksucker says: Five Quails out of Five!

a quail a quail a quail a quail a quail

Artists: pugwash, the divine comedy, the duckworth lewis method

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.