A nice irony: your reviewer’s spent most of the day travelling here from County Cork, just to make a beeline directly for a venue featuring the Claddagh Bar and the Avoca lounge amongst other notables. Go figure, I guess.
Still, Yorkshire’s biggest (and coolest) working man’s club (forgive my anti-PC sins) is as good as any place for the wonderful MEKONS 25th anniversary, with the original sextet taking the UK boards for the first time in donkey’s years.
Much more about THE MEKONS later, but – lest we forget – Jon Langford was also a crucial component of 80s art-rockers THE THREE JOHNS, who are doing their first show for 11 years tonight.
And it’s a mixed blessing, frankly. Although they open with a razor sharp “AWOL”, their abrasive, drum-machine infused sound hasn’t weathered the nostalgia squall too well and the caustic, Lydon-esque vocal whine grates rapidly. An effective “Death Of the European” raises the pulse rate, but although I’d desperately wanted them to be great, for most of their 40 minutes they sound like they look: ageing blokes who should’ve knocked it on the head 11 years back. “See you in 11 years,” they cry as a parting shot. Hmmm…don’t ring us, guys.
CHUMBAWAMBA, by comparison, have never ceased to be relevant, and this year’s “Readymades” album is another triumph – albeit a slightly quieter one than usual. With crazy cozzy changes aplenty and a disciplined tag team approach to vocal duties, they’re in party mood tonight, pretending they’re The Mekons throughout and casually knocking out a set with nods to both their new album and their (yikes!) greatest hits.
Highlights are many and varied. “I’m With Stupid” is punchy and no-nonsense; “Jacob’s Ladder” sounds especially resonant in the current worldwide crisis situation, with Danbert singing the “and they sent him to the war to be slain” sample live; an acoustic’n’gentle take of “Don’t Try This At Home” brings Lou stagefront and the inevitable “Tubthumping” and (hurrah!) “Enough Is Enough” provoke the expected moshpit mania.
Typically, though, CHUMBAWAMBA have strength in reserve and even the less obvious material – the Gary Rhodes-bashing “Passenger List”; Boff’s surprisingly tender C&W lullaby “Wild And Blue” and the clergy-bashing “Big Mouth Strikes Again” with Alice and Danbert in clerical garb – sound like deranged successes in this euphoric atmosphere.
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Following this was never gonna be easy and considering the way the THREE JOHNS had floundered earlier, this reviewer was harbouring doubts as to whether Jon Langford could still cut the Colmans with THE MEKONS.
However, opening with the folky, vocally-inclined jamboree of “The Olde Trip To Jerusalem”, it soon became apparent that after a wayward quarter-century, THE MEKONS (back to original strength) – remain crankily inventive.
Indeed, virtually all of this is taut, tight and distinctive. The accordion adds an occasional Cajun flavour and Langford and Tom Greenhalgh’s guitars are joined at the hip.
It’s a joy, also, too see Sally Timms back at the mic. She does little physically, but still exudes an indefinable cool and contributes viciously good vocal lines to one of the most underestimated back catalogues in pop.
Loads of great stuff whizzes past. I’d forgotten how neat “I Love A Millionaire” was, while “The Last Dance” reinforces the positive impression and a moving AND defiant “Insignificance” – delivered by a nostril-flaring Langford – completely banished the early Three Johns blemishes.
All celebrations and the party atmosphere notwithstanding, though, tonight proved beyond all reasonable that at least two of Leeds’ most enduring and uncompromising cornerstones are still in rude health. Admittedly, the Three Johns’ legacy might be better preserved in aspic at this stage, but both Chumbawamba and The Mekons clearly have much to offer in the big, bad 21st Century.
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