Crud World Domination Enterprises give you

Gold Blade

The Business

Kings of Delmar

Satan’s Hollow, Manchester 30^th November 2005

(narration and pix by phil newall)

For accuracy I should point out that The Business were the listed headliners, but for reasons that become obvious I have put Gold Blade on top...

 Firstly mention must go to the venue, Satan’s Hollow; located in the bowels of a rather smart looking office block in the centre of Manchester. As you enter you climb a short set of steps and then descend into the venue itself, you enter from a corner which offers you a full view of the surroundings. Directly opposite is the DJ booth positioned below a 10ft face of ‘Old Nick’ with his arms outstretched pulling himself through the wall. The walls are all covered in moulded fibreglass with faces coming out of the walls; there is a body bag above the bar and a quite area that you access via a set of cemetery gates! The dance floor is circular and in the centre of the room ringed by a low fence, tonight this also became the stage.

www.goldblade.com

Only one reservation about this gig, and that was the inclusion of The Business; now its only my opinion but I always avoided them due to there rather dubious lyrics and brain dead skinhead fans who seemed more keen on fighting and trashing everyone else’s evening. I presume Gold Blade were supporting them as they happen to be on the same record label?

 The openers Manchester’s own Kings of Delmar took to the stage, a four piece who sadly failed to really impress. Granted they could all play, had a few decent riffs, but just left me wondering they were not a punk band, nor were they a rock band, but they included elements of both; this combination just left me a bit cold. To be fair they were not helped by the sound engineer who seemed to have reduced the vocals to a muddy mess;

 Gold Blade took to the stage and immediately ignited the crowd to life, opened with ‘Fighting In The Dancehall’ and from there on in it was 100% high octane Nu-Soul Punk Rock; John Robb is the front man that many bands, including those much bigger in stature would die to have, he commands the stage, whilst retaining the ability to engage with the audience. Tonight presented him with a slight problem, with a circular stage your audience are all around you! This was resolved by the level of energy coming from Robb, which literally drew the crowd to a natural front. ‘Psycho’ followed with the band already into their stride, standing on the speakers, climbing the fencing before launching into ‘Black Sheep Radical’ and then ‘Rebel Songs’ the title track from the current album.

 By now Robb had stripped down to the waist, as the band played a couple of older numbers ‘Kiss My Ass’, ‘AC/DC’ with the rest of the band now attempting to beat Robb at his own game, clambering on the fencing, leaping from speakers etc. Was a shortened set brought to a close by ‘Home Turf’ to allow the headliners to follow...

In some respects I feel sorry for any band that has to follow Gold Blade, they offer so much with each performance that other bands are made to look like they are merely going through the motions, why Gold Blade are not superstars remains as mystery, constantly touted as the best live act in the country, stunning song writing should in a fair world have them up there with Green Day et al. For those of you unfamiliar with them visit the website, check out the forthcoming 2006 live dates, be there, you will not be disappointed.

 And then it was the turn of The Business, who were delayed as they had to set up there own entire PA system. Will admit to never being a fan, as hinted at earlier, I know enough about them to realise that Mikey Fitz is the sole original member, and as he took to the stage flouting West Ham and England tattoos it became apparent that nothing has changed. The opener ‘Saturdays Hero’s’ sets out their stall ‘Rucking on the terrace, bundles in the street; Fighting for glory in half lit streets’

 We left half way through the second song, I always hated the Gary Bushell/Oi! posturing; seemed to me to delight in being pig shit thick, and finding merit in punching someone; granted some of the actual music was good but the lyrics and ‘lifestyle’ that accompanied it all were just abhorrent.

 On the journey home we discussed the question posed above; why aren’t Gold Blade as big as Green day etc. I think, and this is only opinion that its down to their association with acts like The Business, Anti Nowhere League etc; Gold Blade offer intelligent lyrics matched with a sound that features a brass section, competent musicianship etc; so much more that these other bands, and that I believe is the problem. People unaware of their sound are put off by association and so choose to ignore, perhaps Gold Blade should pick their support slots with more thought? This is all presuming they want to be as big as Green Day.

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