Crud World Domination Enterprises give you
THE STRANGLERS
BUZZCOCKS
MOONIES
GOLDBLADE
Matthew Street Festival, Liverpool
28.08.2005
(review
and pix by Neil Crud)
'Fighting on the dancefloor
fucking in the streets.'
Every Goldblade song is an anthem. We drove to Liverpool in our entourage of
two to the Matthew Street Free Festival to dig Goldblade, Buzzcocks and
Stranglers. All for the price of a £2.70 car park ticket, a bit of diesel,
£2.60 for the tunnel, a couple of pints of £3 beer and a dodgy chili and rice
that the family had to endure the end product of the following morning.
We scurried along down to the docks, asked a friendly Scouser Steward where the
North Stage was and mingled toward the front to see Goldblade.
I am a Goldblade virgin. I knew what to expect from the excellent reviews Phil
Newall has sent us over the last year. I knew the songs as mainman John Robb
sent me a copy of the new CD 'Rebel Songs'. But it was still a nice surprise to
see so much energy, even for a Sunday morning, and that energy has burnt for a
long time as John Robb was just as manic when he fronted The Membranes in the
1980s, of whom I had the pleasure of supporting in Bangor Uni when I was a shit
guitarist with 4Q.
'Fighting on the dancefloor fucking in the streets.' - Is quite a surreal
anthem for noon on a Sunday and John Robb, opening this second day of the
festival was quite serious when he shouted,
'C'mon, lets get a mosh pit going.'
He didn't
manage that but did spend all but 2 songs down in front of the crowd, shaking
hands, kissing babies and encouraging participation. Thankfully for the crowd,
he was constricted by the length of his microphone lead, for had he possessed a
radio mic God knows the limits of this crazed human being! Although he did get
close enough to us for the Secretary to notice he shaves his chest!
Kiss My Arse, Psycho, the songs were
reeled off, if you didn't know them, you felt like you knew them and Phil
Newall and myself remarked that Instant Agony should be writing rebel rousing
songs like these.
The crowd were beckoned forward on the premise that those who didn't venture
were obviously here to see Tony Christie, there was a surge toward the stage!
We were invited to follow Goldblade to Blackpool for the Stanley Park Festival
this evening and into Strictly Hardcore
we bounced, which, The Secretary noted sounded like Sigue Sigue Sputnik - where
she got that from I dunno, maybe it was the two drummers.
'Do you believe in the power of rock 'n' roll?' Begged the question - on this
performance, yes Brother John I do. Praise be to Black Elvis.
Recommended. (website)
As a surprise appearance - local
soon-to-be heroes The Moonies (pic
above) made a very brief but explosive bow to the crowds on the insistance of
Pete Shelley; who stood in the wings like a doting uncle, or 'looking like a
fucking truck driver' as Phil Newall put it.
Opening with Media Whores, these very
small lads have been going 8 years according to the compere. They only had time
to play 4 songs, all of which could well have been off their latest 'Rock 'n'
Reel' EP and they were just getting into it as it was time to leave - but what
the fuck, frontman Steven Banks - who writes letters to dead rock stars for
inspiration - attempted (and failed) to smash up his guitar on leaving. Check
out the website
Another first for me - The Buzzcocks (Pete Shelley pic above) and
I was really excited about seeing them. Having owned every single they
released, having watched them as a zit poppin' teenager on Top of The Pops,
having read about their drug fuelled exploits across the USA, it was high time
I saw them. Their debut release, 'The Spiral Scratch' EP was one of the first
records I ever bought, albeit the re-release in 1979 so it was warming for them
to kick off with Boredom. The
Secretary noted that Steve Diggle (pic below) for all his rock god guitar poses
looked more like the actor from Rita, Sue And Bob Too than Eddie Van Halen, or
whoever else he thought he was. Phil had also been vociferous over these
guitaring poses, but I reckon its quite simply down to the fact that he can't
believe his luck.
'Here I am, 30 years on from being a dirty little punk in a Manchester back
street and I'm still making a living from it - this is ace!'
The wonderfully crafted Autonomy
signalled the start of a mosh pit. A mosh pit for The Buzzcocks! I'd have never
of imagined it! Their songs were always about jilted angst not hatred or rioting,
and here we are in the heart of Liverpool in 2005, next to a Buzzcocks mosh
pit. Oh Shit, Harmony In My Head, Love
You More. The oldies had started the moshing but they soon ran out of steam
leaving it to the kids to belt the crap outta each other. Although I did spot
Phil arguing with Mrs Newall and Phil Junior as they both looked determined to
join in!
Orgasm Addict, Breakdown, Noise Annoys,
Ever Fallen In Love With Someone - they were hammered out and my heart
strings were tugged, leaving me with a smile on my face. (website)
With The Stranglers due on next it would mean that it will only be the
Sex Pistols that I missed out on seeing from all those 'big' early punk bands.
Yes I did leave it very late with two of today's players but still not bad for
someone unfortunate to have been born four years too late to be old enough to
have been gobbed on the first time round. By the time I was spiking my hair up,
Sid Vicious had already spiked himself up one last time and Jimmy Pursey was by
then doing the rounds uniting the kids (incidentally I've never seen Sham 69,
although did camp next to them in Glastonbury once!).
I was listening in on a conversation behind me and someone was giving his mate
the Stranglers run down - Hugh Cornwall left in '91, so ex-Vibrator Paul
Roberts (pic below) has been a long time member, although he is still referred
to as the new singer. It was quite strange seeing them hit the stage - JJ
Burnel (pic above) has long been a hero of mine in the bassist department, you
listen to any Stranglers track, particularly off the first three albums and the
bass is the predominant instrument and without being all wanky-diddley-dee -
it's solid, meaty and yet melodic all the same.
My overheard informant told his listenership that JJ is 55. Fifty Five! - The
twat (that's the sixth time I've called him that since seeing them!), he looks
so fucking good! Its all that karate and honing the body and meditation no
doubt! (Says Mr Crud as he sinks another pint of Grolsch!).
It was very hard to like The Stranglers today, like people say of the Dead
Kennedys tour without Jello Biafra, like of the rumoured Clash reunion,
obviously without Joe Strummer. The Stranglers without Hugh Cornwall, they not
only replaced his vocals with the animated Paul Roberts (who sounds uncannily
like Hugh), they also replaced his guitar playing with the enormous frame of
Geordie native, Baz Warne. So it was in a way like watching a Stranglers
tribute band rather than the real thing. My ever present Secretary tutted that
the vocalist was a bit too Bryan Adams for her and even Peaches didn't do it. The turning point for me was Always the Sun - a Cornwall song through
and through, and if you closed your eyes you'd swear it was Hugh Cornwall
singing it. Fittingly, through the song, the sun did emerge from the clouds.
And an interesting set proceeded, including the recent Top 40 hit Big Thing Coming and the impressive Nuclear Device (one of my favourite
Stranglers songs), then Duchess. I
noticed that The Twat (for that is what Peter Pan Burnel is called in my house
now) didn't glance down at his bass once through the set - a man at one with
his instrument.
An emergency trip to the bogs near the end made us realise just how packed out
this festival was as we fought past thousands upon thousands of Stranglers
t-shirts. I enjoyed the finale of No More
Heroes on the big screens, finally won over. No more Cornwall anymore, but
the Stranglers live on at an incredible rate at an incredible rate at an
incredible rate at an incredible rate at an incredible rate at an incredible
rate at an incredible rate at an incredible rate at an incredible rate at an
incredible rate at an incredible rate at an incredible rate at an incredible
rate at an incredible rate at an incredible rate at an incredible rate at an
incredible rate at an incredible rate at an incredible rate at an incredible
rate at an incredible rate at an incredible rate. (website)
