Dodgy, The Icicle Works

On 1 October 2026 at O2 Academy Bristol, Dodgy share the bill with The Icicle Works. Formed in Hounslow in 1990, Dodgy first brought together Nigel Clark, Mathew Priest and Andy Miller around a melodic take on British guitar music, somewhere between power pop and alternative rock. The band cut its teeth on The Dodgy Album (1993), then sharpened the hooks on Homegrown (1994) and Free Peace Sweet (1996), home to songs like Staying Out for the Summer, Good Enough and If You’re Thinking of Me. After a late-90s reshuffle and a return to the original trio in 2007, Dodgy opened a new chapter with Stand Upright in a Cool Place (2012) and What Are We Fighting For (2016). On stage, the group now plays as a quartet with Stuart Thoy on bass, keeping those bright guitars and close-knit vocals at the core.

The Icicle Works, born in early-80s Liverpool around Ian McNabb with Chris Layhe and Chris Sharrock, thread post-punk tension through clear, ringing guitars and pop-built refrains. Early singles Nirvana and Love Is a Wonderful Colour (1983) set the tone before the self-titled debut in 1984, then If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song (1987), Blind (1988) and Permanent Damage (1990). Lineups changed but McNabb remained the axis, pushing the songs toward a broader, sometimes more acoustic palette without losing the independent edge. For this Bristol date, the set can draw across those eras, from the first singles to later album cuts.