Live review: Polkadodge, The Darlingtons @ Big White Tent 13/3/14

In an effort to prevent Sheffield running dry during the St. Patrick’s Day period, someone’s put a big white tent up in the middle of Fargate and filled it with Guinness. Smart thinking. As well as this, they’ve put some bands on. I went and had a listen.


The line up for the night started with the incredibly folky From a Window and ended with The Darlingtons, but my favourites were right in the middle – the energetic four-piece Polkadodge.

Apparently named after the dance done when two people try and walk past each other but keep going the same way, the band play catchy pop songs in similar fashion to Catfish and the Bottlemen or Maximo Park. Onstage in the tent, they ripped through a set featuring recent single ‘Laughing in Spanish’ as well as ‘Borderline’ and ‘Catfish’, giving the rather merry crowd many reasons to move their feet.

Prior to their performance, my exposure to Polkadodge was limited to seeing their Starsky and Hutch-esc video to ‘Borderline’ on YouTube, but witnessing them first-hand left me impressed – definitely not ones to avoid.

The Darlingtons closed the evening with more sombre tones, replacing Polkadodge’s energy with a still powerful but smoother, darker sound – fitting considering everyone was drinking Guinness. My favourite song of the set was the atmospheric ‘Watch Yourself’, which you can find on the band’s Soundcloud page.

Overall, the night was definitely a success – not that a night drinking Guinness can end any other way.

Words by: Jamie Doherty