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| Diggle and some weird fella. |
Ali
Kennedy sports a Dead Kennedy's 'Too drunk to fuck' t-shirt and as he
took to the stage I thought we might be about to get some vitriolic
acoustic punk rock, but it wasn't to be on the cards.
Instead a
friend commented that it sounded like acoustic improv and that sums
it up.
In fact
it's the perfect description of the performance as it did come across
as if much of it was being made up on the spot.
The young
guy has a superb voice, and as musicianship go he knows his way about
his guitar, but the lyricism of his own material falls far short of
matching his other talents.
Barring a
passable cover of Buffalo Springfield, that was carried by his vocal,
the rest was rather dire.
The
closing song that had a repetitive refrain about how we have to eat
and take back the street, while maybe heartfelt, was embarrassingly
basic.
The sort
of thing that a kid toying with anarchy would write on the back of a
jotter with every A in the prose being circled.
While
some would be quick to claim I am being harsh in offering a less than
flattering opinion it seems fair to say that if anyone is going to
pay to be entertained then we should expect a certain level of
talent.
It's a
different story if it's an open mic night, or a bunch of local
musicians putting on a free show to get some live experience, but
this wasn't the case.
Everyone
has to start somewhere, but Ali Kennedy fell far short of being ready
to open for Steve Diggle.
Give it a
year and maybe he would be, but at this moment in time it's all
filler and no killer.
The Beat
Movement were to offer us some timely salvation with their retro mod
set that pulls all the best moves of the Small Faces in together with
a liberal does of The Who.
The four
young guys in the band make a sound that was fresh decades ago sound
startling vibrant in the present.
The
original material they have is already of a standard that they could
very easily fulfil the support duties to some larger bands, and in
time, once they have an albums worth, then I would fully expect them
to be a solid headliner in their own right.
With a
rendition of Del Shannon's Runaway, that sounded like an out take
from a session that Steve Marriott would have led, and the Small
Faces classic Watcha gonna do about it added to pad the short set out
it was really a case of all systems go for the band.
There's
some apparent choreography involved in the Townsend styled jumps and
windmills that proliferate the set, and while entertaining enough
they seems too structured to feel genuine.
It's
possible that instead of working on them they should use the moves
when the mood takes them and see if that can match the effortless way
they invoke the exuberance of the sixties.
Sonic
Templars along with Diggle himself were who we were there to see and
once again they didn't disappoint.
Like Brit
Pop take on Muse or even Radiohead they are another band that are on
the cusp of leaving the support slot behind them.
The
songs, the attitude, and a sense of self belief that all bands have
to possess to get anywhere are all in place and the next 6 months to
a year should provide them with that pivotal moment when a band goes
from being being big fish in the pond to migrating to the bigger pool
with more national attention coming there way.
Easily a
faultless show for them and one that they should be proud of.
Unfortunately
they were to be followed by a sub standard band of Strokes copyists
called Younger.
Everything
about them screamed Julian and the boys and I would have probably
appreciated them more of they just dropped the pretence and gave up
on the B quality strokealike songs and just covered the bands
material.
In fact I
can't be arsed writing any more about them and you can read what you
want into that.
Steve
Diggle, who I consider to be the beating heart of Manc legends
Buzzcocks, was on fine form bringing us his acoustic take on the
bands back catalogue and his own solo material.
I never
get tired of watching him when he is with his bandmates and the
enjoyment that I have always got out of seeing a Buzzcocks show
easily transferred over to a Diggle solo slot.
There's
just something about the guy that seems to convey a lust for life and
it's quite infectious.
It's hard
not to sing back the woohooos of Promises with a big grin on your
face and it was at that point that I thought to myself that this
exact moment is what going to live gigs is all about.
There's a
great sense of communal love in Maggie Mays from those present and my
only complaint would be that the venue should have been packed to the
rafters.
Maybe
next time because he undoubtedly deserves to be playing sold out
venues up and down the country.
Here's a guy who has participated in providing us with songs that are for many of us the soundtrack to our lives.
Now that's something damn special, and so was the gig.
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