Blondie

Crud World Domination Enterprises give you

Blondie / Hugh Cornwell

St. David’s Hall, Cardiff,

15/11/05

Reviewed by Guy Salvador

After spending last night getting my feet trampled & beer poured over me at a packed Bristol Academy it was nice to get back to a bit of comfort in the more gentile surroundings of St.Davids Hall, Cardiff. It’s all very polite & organised & to be honest just what the doctor ordered! After grabbing a couple of drinks at the bar I glanced at the TV screens that are placed on the walls outside the theatre & recognised the figure up on stage as none other than Mr Hugh Cornwell, a man I haven’t seen live since the heady days of 1978 in the then brilliant “Stranglers”. A band that were very different from the horrible representation you will find peddling under that banner nowadays. Being totally unaware that Mr Cornwell was tonight’s support we made haste into the hall & took our “comfortable” seats & were thoroughly entertained. The band, a three piece, Mr Cornwell & a pair of kids, at least they looked very young, on bass & drums, both excellent. Surprisingly there were plenty of old “Stranglers” songs in the set to keep us oldies interested, “No more heroes” “Walk on By” “All quiet on the Eastern Front”, are a few that come to mind. Obviously sounding very different from the original versions of the songs but good & to be honest, thoroughly enjoyed. There were also some tracks from his current album “ Beyond Elysian Fields”, which were themselves, very good also. Overall, a real bonus, considering we didn’t know he was playing & although maybe not quite the snarling, scary fella I remember from my youth, still one of the old gems who definitely has a place in my musical history.

I suppose this leads nicely into tonight’s headliner “Blondie”, a band I had never seen before but whose music I have listened to since probably 1977. The heritage of Blondie is absolutely impeccable hailing from the superb New York CBGB’s punk rock scene of the mid to late 70’s along with all the other hero’s, “Ramones”, “Richard Hell”, “Television”, “The Heartbreakers”, “Talking Heads”, “Patti Smith”……. It goes on. They easily moved from underground punk rock heroes into the darlings of the pop charts & must have had hits going well into double figures. A lot of people don’t credit “Blondie” with some of the musically groundbreaking stuff they did in the late seventies, easily mixing rock & disco into the perfect dance floor hit, “Heart of Glass”, along with the first that I was aware of rap/ rock mix in another of their hits “Rapture”. Both of these tracks were amongst those played in tonight’s set, along with a hatful of “Blondie’s” other hits. Strangely, “Heart of Glass” is a very strange version, crap to be honest, but that was one of the only low points in a great entertaining set. The others being a couple of MOR covers, I think? Makes you sort of think, why bother when there’s such a great back catalogue of original tunes? The band….. I have to mention drummer, “Clem Burke”, who I have also seen play with the “Eurythmics” a long time ago, is simply magnificent, one of the best of his “machine gun” style of playing, along with maybe “John Maher” from “Buzzcocks”. Along with the “Silver Fox”, “Chris Stein” on guitar they make an accomplished & polished sound. Probably not always what I look for in a band but this is “Blondie” & this is 2005! A full 31 years after this band originally formed in 1974. I’ve written a fair bit here without mentioning the obvious star of the show, “Deborah Harry”. Unbelievably just turned 60! She still looks & sounds absolutely fantastic & is the type of person that gives us all hope. Her trials & tribulations over the years have been well documented & it’s great to see her back “Kicking Ass”, (they are Septics)! As would be expected of someone who has played as many shows as Ms Harry, she interacts with the crowd with ease & grace & a considerable amount of energy! You also get the feeling that the whole band are really enjoying the gig as well, which always adds to the enjoyment, maybe we are lucky this is early in a very long UK tour.

A venue like St. David’s Hall really does add to the visual aspect of the show as the stage back area is huge providing a great backdrop for lighting etc. Also, the sound here is always excellent, in fact, the venue is so good I think I have decided that I am only ever going to go to St David’s hall for gigs from now on…… look forward to reviews of Welsh male voice choirs, The Tweenies & Jethro Tull (Gasp)!

All the best

Guy Salvador

WWW.southerndownrecords.co.uk

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