Another years gigs begin as they have almost every year for the last decade or so, at the 100 Club for the Resolution Punk festival and often with Subhumans headlining the first of the Resolution shows we go to, the only year in the last 10 I started elsewhere was at the Hope And Anchor and featured one of the other bands that James Sherry the drummer of Desperate Measures plays in, so this show was very much business as usual.
We got into the 100 Club just before Desperate Measures came on, watching the start of Back To The Rat from the bar and beer in hand walking across the club while Eugene stalked the stage and Mauro let rip on guitar everything sounded as it should, they went straight into Sublime Destruction with James Sherry's drums and Phil Roadkill's bass driving them on at a cracking pace. Before we knew it Eugene was threatening to take over on what I think was Pocket, please let him rule the place, it would be so much more fun than the current bunch, Eugene made clear before they played Thinking Of England that it was written a good few years ago, even if some of the same criticisms are still true, Mauro was bending his guitar strings and adding energy and guts to it.
If ever we felt this close to World War III before I can't remember when, it was making the stark message of the song seem more pertinent, while they just want us to end racism and love each other one punchy riff at a time. Seven Sisters was dedicated to anyone from North London and is a love letter to a most unloved part of town, Eugene took us back to the bands roots for The Richtual that points the finger at the 1% trying to own and run everything and stop the rest of us from enjoying our lives, well screw them, we will not stop going out and having a good time. Lost Angels was dedicated to Eugene's brother and anyone else who left us far too soon, this was the softest song of the set, I almost expected James to switch to brushes rather than sticks, he didn't but did soften his sound a good bit.
It was back to the core message of the night on Nation Divided making plain we need to stick together and defeat racism and classism and all the things that are used to divide the majority of us, 1984 plays into the paranoia many of us currently feel and this song from the bands roots in New Zealand still feels rather potent and it needed all of Eugene's fist pumping energy to get the message across. Eugene told us Scars And Memories was about heroin and hoped no one in the 100 club was hooked on that drug, the song has its key message that you will just end up scarred if you dabble with that devil, before they closed with the bands usual rampage through I Wanna Be Your Dog that got everyone going ahead of tonight's main attraction.
The Subhumans came on with Dick wearing a brand-new T-shirt, with the sleeves cut off as usual, for his corporate sponsors Bluurg Records, this is the first time I have seen Dick wearing his own corporations T-shirts. They opened with Apathy that was played at an apathetic 120 MPH allowing Dick to start building up the energy they thrive on, Get Out Of My Way was ripped into by Bruce on guitar with Dick making clear the revolution he wants to happen. Animal was the first song to cause the mosh pit to erupt, so Having spilled my beer over another fan, who I apologise again too, moved back to get out the way of the fun and games the all ages crowd was having.
|
Dick gave us his usual speech before Too Fat Too Thin to make plain it’s not how you look that matters, but how you think and treat everyone else, he was stomping all over the stage totally getting into it, the message of It's Gonna Get Worse couldn't have come on a worse week than this one, that proves this song to be 100% accurate in its depiction of where we are headed, if only Dick was wrong more often. Trotsky's drums seemed more intense on Germ a song that seemed to infect us all with its power. Rats saw another explosion of energy in the pit as no one is in favour of how the rich are currently ruling things. Dick told us all to avoid the Punk Machine of major labels and bad deals and stick to DIY as he replied to one heckling fan.
Story Of Your Life and how you need to avoid being stuck in a corporate rut blasted through the 100 club on Phil's speedy as they come basslines, Dick again made plain we need to get the 99% to come together to defeat the 1% and all the evil they are currently creating. No is something we all have to say to our so-called leaders all the time currently, we need a total change in direction. This Years War felt like it was far too on the money for comfort, we have got past the point when blaming Human Error was acceptable, reality has been so twisted making these old songs seem like they were written for how 2026 has begun.
Everyone in the 100 club wants to be part of the Society Dick wants to create, we know we are not in the Minority as more than half the club was in the mosh pit at this point, even if Mickey Mouse Is Dead we will find a way to fight for a better world. It is sad that Waste Of Breath is how it often feels when trying to get the world to be fairer and more peaceful these days, we may as well stay in Subvert City that had almost everyone singing the chorus before Dick warned us about partying too hard on Party Till The Pigs Come Round before they closed as they always do with Religious Wars that brought to a close another fast furious and brutally brilliant set by the always great Subhumans
|
