Completing my extremely busy August of gigs this show means that I've seen and reviewed 68 live bands with tonight's headliners Menace being one of only two bands that I've see twice this month along with Ruts DC, they are also the first band I saw this year at Rebellion that I've seen again since.
We arrived in plenty of time to see all three bands and first on were Daddy Those Men Scare Me a four piece who've apparently been around since 1994, scaring everyone they can. They opened with No Emotion a good fun chugging punk song to get everyone going, I really liked Mass Consumption a perfect song to sing in the week most postal services stop sending stuff to the USA, seeing one way to stop our addiction to stuff, being to price everyone out and destroy capitalism from within, the vocals got good and angry and the singers tie was certainly scary.
I will need to hear Mentally Ill Girl again to make sure where it's coming from lyrically, musically it was like the Adverts on Adderall. Every punk band should have a song called Punk Song that does pretty much what it suggests, it had a good few of the audience singing along with them, the Acoustic Guitar break truly showed the Punk spirit. They got a bit more spacey on Magic Mushroom Man trying to trip us all out, with the guitarist with the scary beard going more full-on psychedelic.
The next song was introduced as being the Social Contract Is Breaking Down that will make a proper mouthful for any DJ's introducing it, the tune had great agit-punk lyrics pointing out many of the ways the 21st century is going to hell in a handbasket.
Next was a new Song that well for me sounded like the bands old songs, it was pretty together with the familiar looking bassist driving it on. What's it All For well who knows, but to entertain a bunch of Herbert's like us is a good start. The Girl Who Left The World was a slightly sad look at someone who took a far too early exit and what might have pushed her in that direction.
Teenagers was the song that got most of the audience singing along once they heard the chorus for the first time, no they don't have a high opinion of the youth of today, the explicit lyrics make clear this is a great tune. They then saluted the good old endless party days on Sailing Round The World in praise of wondering how on earth you made it home in one piece, while being so out of it you don't know what you did last night. The Greatcoat Man seemed to be in love with a flasher and all he got up too, before they closed with Sunset Strip that seemed to make clear they wanted none of that nonsense, they weren't going to use hairspray or make up in pursuit of fame and fortune, just damn good tunes, they went down a storm.
After the break it was time for Taurus Trakker who are promoting the band's new album Enemies, Screams & Rejections and opened with Question Of Color that had some florid guitar from Martin Muscatt, they got into the bands groove fully on the Blues Guitar instrumental they went into that had some good intricate drumming from Allison Phillips. Martin then asked us all to hop on the Bus To Mexico with them, this sounded like they wanted to organise a Timothy Leary style excursion in a 1970's style and was great fun.
The Dream Inspectors were next to investigate what was going on, with some very steady bass from Zac Scarper while Allison's drums seemed to want to vibrate away from her. Mr B.is one of those songs that lay out why you want to stay away from someone, the guitar was more blues inflected than it used to be. Martin then asked some good questions about the princess on Truth Or Dare would she spill the beans or would she keep shtum.
They then played what sounded like a Duanne Eddy instrumental Leather 61 that sounded great, with the Zac's bass being the perfect foil for what Martin was doing on guitar. You Know Who I Mean was justly bitter in the right ways pointing a finger at someone who should have behaved better in every way, it was also the point when Martin realized he was bleeding all over his guitar. They then praised the good old King Of Chicken Wing and this sounded great, it's one of the bands best singles, before they closed with Transistor Radio that took us all back to the glory days of listening to Peel or Stewpot on an earpiece, hoping to hear some miraculous new sounds to rock our worlds.
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After the break it was time for the current line-up of Menace to let rip once more after Noel introduced the band as being four cunts from London, before they launched into Screw It Up that was super tight and had most of us singing along with them. Insane Society seems more and more on the money every time I hear it, while the world gets more and more insane, this had some great guitar from the re-invigorated Pete Bradshaw who is back firing on all cylinders.
Noel then complained that he still had a Monkey On Our Backs before his despair at the current state of the world became too much on I Don't Wanna Be Angry Anymore but like the rest of us he can't help himself, at least he has Dave Jenkins basslines to sooth him a little.
It was time for them to call up the Electrocutioner to deal with some of the idiots in power who need frying, they sounded a lot tighter than at Rebellion, but it might have been the smaller room, Still no one needed telling to join in singing along to Party Animal, most of the audience were hard core gig going Party Animals, this had the first dub breakdown of the set and when they built it back up with pinpoint precision it felt like they were ready to be peaking. It was time for a soundcheck while they blasted through 1 2 1 2.
At the start of Criminals In Uniform they let Josh, a young fan up onstage to sing backing vocals and pull some great poses, while the bleak truth of who some of the worst criminals on the planet are was made clear by Noel, Josh got a huge cheer at the end of the song.
They then Put The Blame On You that was built around Simon Edwards rock hard precision drumming. Noel then sang about his sartorial elegance on the always brilliant C & A that had a good dubby break down and some wry ad-libs.
I think it was I Don't Care that Dave Jenkins took lead vocals on, either way it was full on and in our faces. I'm Civilized was a long version that broke down into the band intros and dubby parts while making clear that all of us punks were far more Civilized than the authorities fighting to put us down. So Fuck You was a riot of a sing along, with stage invasion, call and response parts and everyone joining in. Noel made clear that although the GLC was long gone the message in this classic remains the same and everyone was soon punching the air again before they closed with a full on brawl through Last Years Youth while they made absolutely crystal clear that in 1977 the punks told the truth, that made sure we all left happy.
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