So
here we are again! An even dozen times in a row that Belfast’s original
socially conscious punk rockers, Stiff Little Fingers, have been at the Bristol
O2 Academy in March, and 11 times in those 12 years that I’ve been there with
them! Every time a good time, as I’ve mentioned before, so once again Rich and
I donned our punk rock trousers and girded our loins for the annual “Mad March
to Bristol”!
Rich’s
turn to drive this time, as payback for our recent Ash Bierkeller jaunt, with
the usual Lauda-esque run down on a crisp, clear night being punctuated by
catch-up chat around old friends. Parked up in a relatively quiet Trenchard
Street and wandered in about 8, during the early knockings of support Ricky
Warwick And The Fighting Hearts. Warwick, formerly of 90’s hard rockers The
Almighty, also saw time as frontman of the Thin Lizzy line-up that played
Swindon’s MECA in June 11 (my gig 819), doing a pretty good job that night, as
I recall. Now shorn of the hair metal band hair and with a a slicked-back
Mohican, he strong-armed his way through a rabble-rousing metallic rock set
with occasionally militaristic drumbeats, which was a little ham-fisted and
didn’t do much for me. I thought I heard shades of New Model Army (although on
latter consideration, also bits of Gothy hard rockers The Cult), Rich thought
The Clash; and as ever The Big Man was right, as Warwick trotted off a pretty
passable cover of “Tommy Gun” which got the best reception of their set by some
distance. An Almighty cover to finish also went down well with the old rockers
down the front, but again didn’t do much for me…
We
took a wander around the venue looking for “Big Pat”, a steward who’d looked
after Rich’s daughter Jess really well during their Bowling For Soup gig a
couple of weeks ago, then headed to our usual stage left spot quite easily –
maybe a case of diminishing returns, or just Sunday night ennui, but despite a
late rush in, there was plenty of space on the floor tonight… Then the Best
Entrance Music Ever (official), the rabble rousing terrace chant of “Go For
It”, kicked in for the entrance of Stiff Little Fingers, dead on 9. A venomous
opening “Wasted Life” was followed in short order by “Just Fade Away” and a
rambunctious “Roots Radicals Rockers And Reggae”, the band nary pausing for
breath in the process. A blistering start!
“We
missed out on the [Brit] Awards again, but I never believed in awards, I
believe in the power of guitar and drum!” announced rasping vocalist Jake Burns
before the singalong manifesto number of the same name, tongue firmly in cheek.
In fact, Burns was overall in an upbeat mood tonight, the usual political
sloganeering absent tonight (a shame really, I’d have like to hear Burns’ views
on the likes of Donald Trump’s recent rantings) in favour of more personal
declamations. “Barbed Wire Love” was preceded by a preamble from Jake and
rake-thin bassist Ali McMordie about Ali’s “doo-wop” debut; a splendid skanking
“Doesn’t Make It Alright” was dedicated to The Specials’ John Bradbury, lost to
us at the end of last year, and the most politically-motivated tirade came
before a passionate acoustic “Guilty As Sin”, with a heartfelt oratory about
abuse of trust, particularly of children.
The
rock was solid and well-practised as usual; “At The Edge” fast and frantic,
“Fly The Flag” an ironic terrace chant anthem, and “Tin Soldiers” sprawling and
epic. Set finale “Suspect Device” was powerful and bilious, and saw the best
moshpit reception of the set, but this was topped by an unexpected encore.
“Don’t read anything into [us playing] this; I got tired of being sent Youtube
clips of tribute bands playing this (a dig at XSLF, perhaps?) and I thought,
fuck it, I wrote it, I should do it properly!”, Jake announced before a superb
“Gotta Getaway”, the hook of tonight’s rarely-played best number ringing out
around the venue. “Alternative Ulster” again ended the night, at which point
the boys took a deserved bow after another fine performance from this vintage
punk band, proving age doesn’t diminish passion.
Oh
and we tracked down Big Pat afterwards for a good chat with him and his boss
before heading off. A nice punctuation point on another fine Mad March evening.
See you next year!
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