RUTS DC - HARE & HOUNDS 6/10/2012

 

There is a long list of bands I wish I’d seen but probably at the top of the list were The Ruts. In an all too short career they released one of the finest run of punk singles ever and the epic ‘The Crack’ album and to this day I still wonder how many further great songs they would have been capable of producing. So when the Ruts DC played Rebellion festival in the summer, even though it was the band formed from the surviving members following tragic death of front man Malcolm Owen, it was a must see event. And they didn’t disappoint with their set being highlight of the festival. So when the chance came to see them again so soon we jumped at it. The Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath was the venue in the 250 capacity upstairs room. Even before the support band Cracked Actors came on the room had filled nicely and there was definitely an air of excited expectancy around - we had conversations with a couple of guys who had both seen them around 1979 in Digbeth supporting the Damned. The set was very similar to the Rebellion one. A few new songs (which having now heard them twice sound great) interspersed with older Ruts DC songs and then the Ruts tunes started appearing, Backbiter, It Was Cold, SUS was incorporated into one of the newer songs. Then we were on a roll, Staring at The Rudeboys, Love In Vein, Jah War all sounding amazing although the crowd was a little subdued. So for the finale we took the plunge and stormed the front. West One, Babylon’s Burning and an encore of In A Rut. Well impressed that someone of my years could stay the distance with young Sam and to be honest it could well have been 1979 again! If you were a fan of the Ruts and get the opportunity the Ruts DC are a must see. And as the ending refrain of In A Rut was still ringing in my ears you couldn’t help but wonder what if…..   

West One (Shine On Me)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s8k0GtLZ4o

That's A Two Pipe Question Sherlock

So it was another night out to see John Cooper Clarke. This time the venue was Birmingham Town Hall on a wet autumn night. The venue was up market compared to some of the dives we have seen him in and the performance reflected this with probably one of the most polished I have ever seen Johnny Clarke give. Too many highlights and I can’t remember most of them anyway. Some old classics, Beasley Street, Evidently Chicken Town and a whole host of soon to be classics including one about jail and the sometimes touching I Fell In Love With My Wife. He still looks every bit the rock star and his rock n roll references are always on the mark. His one liners are smart, limericks hilarious (There Once Was a Man With A Beard), the poems are never less than brilliant and when he goes off at a tangent he takes the audience with him into his wonderful offbeat world located somewhere just outside Cosham (There Once Was A Man From Cosham). To be honest he could read out the phone book and could make it entertaining. It was good to see some t-shirts on sale at one of his gigs and the Evidently Chicken Town one Sam got is probably the coolest T-shirt I have ever seen. What the world needs right now is a new album of Johnny Clarke material! Will we get one? That is a two pipe question Sherlock!

Evidently Chicken Town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVmNn9HRFZo&feature=fvst