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Article Title:	Greenbelt '11: The music reviews
Author of reported comment:	Pete
Comment Date:	10:44 on Oct 25 2011
Comment:	Andrew Townend is being WAY too soft on Duke Special about his Mainstage set and inparticular the Duke's closing remarks. DS helpfully told us to 'f* denominations', without setting any personal context (NI?), or giving any further explanation or insight in to his well constructed argument - just throwing that out was a sour way to end the set and a 'shock' tactic to try and appear outspoken and 'other' in front of the very audience that has helped get him where he is. Artistically, tacking his intellectually devoid contribution on to the end of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' added further confusion as it made NO sense in the context of the song - is he saying Jesus' love causes people to tear apart, or our love for Jesus is earnest to the point where we tear him apart? Stupid, stupid, stupid, and I don't buy Townend's generous analysis either. Greenbelt and its regular performers have a responsibility - what they say and do matters. Artistic expression does not trump integrity. Perhaps GB should give DS a year off. By complete chance I was at the first greenbelt gig (I think) Duke Special ever did - 50 people in the old performance cafe - Duke with a piano and a gramophone, Chip with his percussion stick, and it was a revelation - as of GB11 the make-up's running, the charm has worn off and the novelty presentation ceases to be a draw. Shame, because there's some good songs kicking around in there. Final thought - this is not a moral judgement (if you want to say f, say f**), it's just an expression of frustration/disappointment - I'm almost reluctant to write it because I don't want Duke fans to pounce to his defence and make a martyr of a man who's quite capable of speaking for himself - certainly more articulately than he did in August.

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