The Bellamy Brothers don’t speak a lot. Perhaps, a little too less. But talk, it seems, simply isn’t required when you’re doing a concert.
However, their two-hour set at the Emirates Golf Club on Friday night was as captivating musically as it was visually as the Brothers, Dave and Howard, unleashed hit after hit to an enthusiastic crowd and anyone within miles of the show’s idyllic setting on the championship golf course’s lush lawns.
When I spoke to Howard prior to his flight to Dubai his promise to his fans was simple and honest: “We won’t led them down.”
And they never did, not even remotely.
The Bellamy Bothers have been at it a long time. Long enough for many artists to hang up their boosts and trade their once youthful exuberance for the comfort of an armchair before a warm fire. But Dave and Howard are not done yet. Not yet, as they proudly proclaim. “Its taken us forty odd years to get this far and boy, oh boy are we liking it!”
Trademark cowboy hats
With drummer Rocky Marvel’s pounding drums announcing the songs and supplying the muscle; Randy Hiebert used his electic guitars to inject a smart hard rock feel to an otherwise contemporary Country & Western set that featured such Bellamy Brother staples as Redneck Girl, Old Hippie and Lovers Live Longer.
Buffed-up and wearing their trademark cowboy hats, Dave and Howard delivered a one-two punch towards the end of the set with two of their biggest hits — If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me and the iconic Let your love flow, a gem from 1976 that defined and shaped their career.
If the crowd had been sitting down for most of the show, they were on their feet as the back-to-back hits turned into a merry singalong.
The energy was mounting and when the night ended at way past midnight the cries for “more, more, more” rent the air, encouraging the brothers to return for two encores.
By now the Bellamy Brothers had made their point. Country music is very much alive and kicking.
