Gig reviews & who are you going to see next (other than...)

[slaughterboy]

If anyone in Germany lives close enough, mine (& Tim's) good friends, The Phobics, are playing a few overseas gigs, starting tomorrow, here:

https://m.regioactive.de/konzert/slow-faction-the-phobics-proud-city-fathers-krefeld-kulturrampe-2018-03-01-YR8KcWLnRK.html

I'm sure they'd be very pleased to see you there 

[Uli]

Normally I do not plan this far ahead, but The Mis-Made returning to Stuttgart in summer, is one I want to see! 
They're a three-piece band now, so should be different, but still good.
https://www.motorcityrock.de/events/detail/6182/the-mismade-aus-special-guests.html

[Uli]

Justin Sullivan (of New Model Army) last night (Ulm @ Eden bar). It was pretty full (& hot in there). He played a quite intimate solo show, often telling stories about the songs etc. I only knew about 4 of them, but it didn't matter, it was well worth listening closely to any of the songs he performed. (Thankfully, most of the audience remained quiet during them & while he talked.)
The strange details I do remember sometimes... last time I saw Justin Sullivan (& friends) many years ago, the song that played over the speakers when he finished was a reggae song: Althea & Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking" (I remember 'cause I like that one, but found it an odd choice after such a gig). You guessed it already, the same song was used as an "outro" last night! 
(I guess Justin really likes it too.)

[Fred21]

Rat Scabies back in conversation at Nottingham's Rough Trade last night. Given the number of emails those that had previously attended were bombarded with, I feared that they may have blundered by putting a primarily spoken-word event on on a Saturday night - and it was also twice the price of the last one. In the event, this was because they had set the room up differently to accommodate a larger audience and were also putting on a couple of local bands.

Not to worry, attendance was good, chat was good and John Knob dominated the proceedings far less than last time.

Didn't stay for the bands though as a chat with some friends old and new in a quieter venue had more appeal.

[EastKentTaff]

Went to see Icons of the 80's..  Go West, Cutting Crew & T'Pau.

Surprisingly good.

[Uli]

Rat Scabies back in conversation at Nottingham's Rough Trade last night.
Not to worry, attendance was good, chat was good and John Knob dominated the proceedings far less than last time.

Ha ha, I kinda liked John when I met him at the Membranes gig.
Someone sent me a recording of this, now I only need time to give it a listen!

Went to see Icons of the 80's..  Go West, Cutting Crew & T'Pau.

Surprisingly good.

I used to like all kinds of stuff in the 80's, but you'd have to pay me to listen to their "hits" again!! 
(Honest, I'd even prefer it if they'd play their new albums...)

[Rockula]

Apart from all the other stuff I've just got tickets to see The Posies at The Garage in October.

[Uli]

The Ramonas play Stuttgart on Thursday, not sure if I can make it yet...

Over the summer, I should move to London (if it wasn't as expensive, I probably would):
https://vivelerock.net/professor-and-the-madman-play-london-show/

L.A. punks PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN have announced a one-off show in London this summer.

The band features co-frontmen Alfie Agnew, from The Adolescents and D.I., and Sean Elliott (D.I., Mind Over Four) alongside a rhythm section of Rat Scabies and Paul Gray of The Damned.

Co-promoted by Vive Le Rock and Human Punk, the gig’s set to take place on Friday 10 August at the 100 Club, Oxford Street.

[GJ]

York Fibbers to see SMASH returning after a lengthy absence (think it was 94ish when I last saw them). A bit rusty to start with but they soon got going. Some old and new stuff and they've a keyboard player now. They were much better than headline band Salad who I know little about.

[slaughterboy]

...They were much better than headline band Salad who I know little about.

I tend to dodge them 

[slaughterboy]

Saw the reformed and re-energised Parkinsons on Monday...and it was like stepping back 20 years. They were as energetic as they always were, even though Alphonso was on crutches due to a mishap whilst trying to perform a backwards scissor kick on stage the previous night. I'd been giving Al's other ventures a miss since he'd left The Phobics as they'd never been up to much, certainly nowhere near as good as either of his previous bands but, boy, are they ever back!

[Alan Grundy]

Wilko Johnson - Manchester Academy (Saturday 12th May).
Wilko's got a new album out next month but I guess the May gigs were already booked before the release was scheduled.
A good bill although an early start at about 5.30.
Mollie Marriott - good voice but a bit boring really. 
Mike Sweeney & The Salford Jets (probably not too well known outside the area) - went down well with the locals, all the singles and a couple of decent cover versions.
Hugh Cornwell - good mix of solo and Stranglers songs with a couple of new tunes from the forthcoming album (also out in June).
Wilko - well, Wilko was Wilko. If you've seen him before, you know what to expect (and if not, why not). Great show, great musicians and even 3 songs from the new album (4 if you count "Take It Easy" which I guess on the new album is a re-recording of this older tune). Finished with Roxette, Back In The Night/She Does It Right and a rousing version of Bye, Bye Johnny.
Couldn't fault the venue on the night, everything ran on time, enough time between acts for a trip to the bar and a smoke although they couldn't wait to get rid of us at the end.
One of the last times that I was at the Academy, Wilko was was supporting the (Hugh-less) Stranglers. Hmm!

[Fred21]

Spear of Destiny and The Crazy Pink Revolvers in Leicester tomorrow - Kirk Brandon and Stan Stammers on the same stage, but with different bands...

[Fred21]

I did go and see Spear of Destiny with special guests Crazy Pink Revolvers in Leicester on Tuesday night. CPR really were special guests - a much misused term I’ve often found as it is frequently a euphemism for ‘crappy local band you’ve never heard of and hope to never hear of again!’ - as they were formed, and are now fronted, by none other than Theatre of Hate’s (and ex-Straps, Spear of Destiny, etc., etc.)  Stan Stammers. For those of you desperate for the set list, they played:

Rest of my Life;
Let the River Live;
Brixton Nights;
God Click Snap;
Wednesday 19:45;
Dragon Time;
Saddest Blue;
High Plains Drifter; and
The Driver.

Stan now sings, and as a singer, he’s a great bassist! In fairness, Dan Drummond was never the best singer, so no great loss there. If you’ve never seen them, they have a rather unusual line up: guitar, drums, 'rhythm bass' and Stan on lead bass. They were joined by Clive Osborne on sax for a couple of numbers too. Anyway, their mix of post-punk tinged with occasional blues rock and reggae, went down nicely. At one point they even ventured mid-song into a tribute to their old touring mates, The Clash, by incorporating “Bank Robber” into their material – nice one. Catch them if you can as they are only on the tour for the next three dates.

http://www.crazypinkrevolvers.com/

Spear of Destiny stormed through a fourteen song set focusing mainly on new album “Tontine” and their first one “Grapes of Wrath” (as it is its 35th anniversary), but included material from all of Kirk’s career. Proof of this came in the encore where an absolutely barnstorming version of The Pack’s “King of Kings” was sandwiched between “The Wheel” and “Liberator”. This gig was unusual as it was a rare outing for any performance involving Kirk Brandon not to include “Westworld” – as rare as a TV gig without GGE! “Super Sub” Clive Osborne joined them on sax for a couple of songs, as did Sam Sansbury on cello. Steve Jones (still not that one!) was also ever-present on keyboards. Cracking stuff! I intend to catch them in Nottingham next week too, but sadly, without CPR this time.

10/10: A great night – although I did get a bit too close to the PA for comfort as my ears were ringing all of yesterday.

What?

What?

https://www.kirkbrandon.com/shows

[Fred21]

Just back from seeing Spear of Destiny in Nottingham. Great set again centred around Tontine and Grapes of Wrath tracks, but a few different songs freshened things up. Encore was belting: King of Kings ("Welcome to 1979!" beamed Kirk); Soldier, Soldier (another of my favourites, so I was a lucky boy) before "Super Sub" Clive Osborne (no Sam Sansbury on cello tonight) emerged for The Wheel and Liberator to round things off.

A great band on belting form.