1,306 THE CHAMELEONS, Feather Trade, Oxford Bullingdon Arms, Tuesday 28th November 2023

 

Because seeing The Chameleons once this year just isn’t enough…!

 This one, a last-minute addition to an already-mental gigging November, sees me once again in search of Manchester’s finest (well, The Passage notwithstanding, but they won’t ever reform, so…), mysterious and anthemic 80’s post-punk/ pseudo-goth rabble The Chameleons. I’ve mentioned in previous blogs how late I was to the party for this lot (my 2016 post-redundancy voyage of rediscovery, in fact), so I won’t go into that again, but suffice to say I’m continuing to make up for lost time with this very special band, one that would have seriously challenged Echo And The Bunnymen for my late teens “home team” honours, had I known them back then. So, I was happy to jump onto this one, a one-off at Oxford Bullingdon announced as a warm-up for an impending European tour, to make it an even 10 gigs for Mark Burgess and Co.! 

A slow drive along a chilly and inky black A420 saw me then attack Oxford from the South due to the roadworks mess around Botley; however, I discovered Oxford still hates cars as I took a satnav-advised sidestreet turn, only to find it blocked off and cycles only. Bah! The tightest of tight 3-point turns got me back on the way, jumping into a lucky street spot on Cowley Road before hitting the venue, grabbing some barrier house left and comparing journeys with a father/son duo up from Romford! Support Feather Trade were on prompt at 8; a 3-piece featuring an impressively-maned vocalist/ guitarist in Chisolm Thompson with the same taste in trousers as me, they were immediately mining a very early 80’s post-punk/ rockist seam with opener “White Water”, featuring some regimental drums and staccato riffery, building to a big flag-waving choral hook. My immediate thought was that 1983 U2 are calling, they want their support band back (!), and the subsequent “Fire” (no, not that one…!) underlined this, a driving rocker with a soaring chorus recalling all sorts of 80’s post-punk bands (Zerra 1, White China, even Silent Running…!). A bit of a niche wheelhouse, but hey, it’s my wheelhouse, so I thoroughly enjoyed the avalanche of frantic rhythm, echoey vocal, off-kilter, pseudo-Goth basslines and resonant pedal effects. New single “A Ready Defense” kicked in with a “Sunday Bloody Sunday” drumroll before diverting into moodier “With Or Without You” territory, before Chisolm thanked bassist Natalie for skipping Thanksgiving to come over for their run of UK shows! A rather splendid start overall, even though it was truncated for running over time…

 Took a wander through a by-now very busy Bully to use the totally flooded loo (!), passing Chameleons keyboardist Dan on the way; he opened proceedings at 9 with the sweeping synth opening to “In Answer” as The Chameleons took the stage, instead launching into a growling, undulating and ravenous “In Shreds”. “Nice to see you; The Bullingdon, it’s been a while, right?” inquired imposing frontman Mark Burgess (nearly 5 years by my reckoning – gig 1,118!) before the ringing chimes of “Perfume Garden” led into the sonorous building tsunami roar of “Up The Down Escalator”, Burgess’ stentorian roar raising the octave and drama during a gripping final choral hook. What. A Start! 

Chameleons were quite, quite magnificent tonight, showcasing all the plangent brilliance of their canon to perfect effect, with every one a winner from a perfectly selected set-list. And, in a week where we lost one post-punk guitar icon in Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker, it seemed only fitting that one of his talented contemporaries, namely Reg Smithies, should take centre stage tonight, his pin-prick precise riffery underpinning the sinister slow build of “Monkeyland” before the volcanic eruption of the chorus, and powering a particularly venomous “Rule Britannia”, before Burgess again paid homage to The Clash, The Fall and Joy Division with his subtle yet pointed lyrical references. “Soul In Isolation”’s sweeping drama featured an excellently observed pregnant pause before the chiming outro; then “Tears” was dedicated by Burgess to, “anyone who has lost someone close to them recently,” bringing memories of my dad to the fore as this desolate and affecting rendition weaved its’ spell. Smithies again led the charge with the intricate, undulating riff intro of a brilliant widescreen “Swamp Thing”, but the epic, sprawling and soaring manifesto of “Second Skin” topped even that, Burgess again preaching the value of making memories and experiences; “that’s what this song was always trying to say!” 

Then Burgess announced, “We’re not going to go through all that [encore] rigmarole; we’re all off to Spain tomorrow so we want to make you warm!” before a touching, tender “PS Goodbye” built to an absorbing and stretched crescendo; then the jagged stentorian roar of “Don’t Fall” rounded off as perfect a set of rock music as I’ve been privileged to hear this year. As I said, quite, quite magnificent. A set-list handed to me by second guitarist Stephen, a merch stand chat with Feather Trade’s Chisolm (an Athens, Ga. native, so of course R.E.M. came up in the conversation!), then a few brief words with the Great Man Mr. Burgess outside afterwards, sharing our recent shared experience of losing a parent (he also complimented my creeper shoes, so it wasn’t all dour and miserable!), before an odd country road diversion out of Oxford got me home just before midnight. You know, with this stellar performance and the crazed moshpit madness of their Holmfirth gig earlier this year (gig 1,288), I think Chameleons might just have secured my Best Live Band Of 2023 award. An in all honesty, there are none more deserving!