Posted on April 5, 2010 - by Editor

Cock Sparrer + Agnostic Front + Street Dogs + Deadline + The Rabble

HMV Forum
London, UK
Friday 26th March 2010
All photos by LibraSnake

Well Its not often punk rock shows go on sale nearly a year before the show takes place, but the double date headlining shows for London legends Cock Sparrer playing their first shows in the capital for some 18 years were always going to generate an ample amount of hype and buzz.

Although there were some misguided rumours and confusion over the status of the “sell out“ shows, an announcement a few days pre-show indicateded tickets were still left for both dates  which I found surprising

The Rabble

The quality of the support bill on both nights was also impressive, a mix of the new and the old and spanning all corners of the globe and without doubt all bands were once inspired by the headliners. Because of the number of bands on display the gig started early, around 5pm, so I made my way to the North London venue in time to catch the tail end of the New Zealand trio The Rabble ply their wear to maybe a couple hundred people who had decided to support all the bands and drink inside the venue, unlike what most punters did, and that’s something I always like to see. The journey in to Kentish town where the Forum is based showed unsubtle glimpses of a punk night to come, with hundreds of skins and punks littering the streets, the dodgy fast food chicken shops and the surrounding bars. I hadn’t seen so many skins, punks and studded jackets so concentrated in one London place before; and the larger than average police presence (looking nervous without reason) was an unnecessary addition.

The Rabble though played well and on my entrance to the top balcony which was very sparse, had started with ‘Friday Nights’ and then voiced their anti racist rhetoric with much favoured ‘The Battle Is Almost Over’. All three band members looked at ease and the band who are still one of my favourite newer bands of the past couple years have come a long way since their first European tour with increased exposure and support bills such as tonight. They also sampled new material from an album promised to be recorded this year and had a lot of skanking tunes to go along with their street punk melodies. They ended the set with ‘Seeking’ and the steadily growing crowd was pretty appreciative with fist pumping and cheering gratitude.

Deadline

With a fairly lengthy delay in setting up the equipment & instruments on stage, the five piece Deadline seem to have changed lineup each time I have seen them play but are still lead by the likable Liz on vocals with soaring driving guitars from the two guitarists and bassist on either side.  Initially the band plays a skanking number with gang vocals supporting Liz but the sound was noticeably still not right and out of synch. The vocals improved however and became clearer and more powerful (reminding me of Dance Hall Crashers actually) and the strong harmonies and melodies on new songs like ‘Whats Going On?’ from their latest record “Bring The House Down” stood out. Their final song with the chorus along the lines of ‘In the underground..’ was a powerful send off.

The band I was most looking forward to were the Street Dogs and Mike McColgan and Co didn’t fail to impress again. I think I have been to every London show they have played and they always manage to get the crowd going, raise energy levels and bring the spirit of punk rock to their shows. From fast paced set opener ‘Not Without A Purpose’ they signalled their intentions and followed up soon thereafter with ‘Two Angry Kids’. Mike, ever the bundle of energy, climbing the Amp stacks on the stage side to get a better view of the crowd and moving from left to right and back again to make sure all got a fair share of the performance; with the microphone chord semi strangling Tobe on guitars and causing a headache for his roadie and security! ‘Tobe’s Got a Drinking problem’ gets a great crowd sing along before Mike embraces his support of unions the globe over with a cover of Billy Braggs ‘There Is Power in the Union’. Mike has always been an impressionable front man, opinionated and passionate, he reminds us all to fight your way through life and pays tribute to The Ramones and of course Joe Strummer before finishing off on their final track and taking to the front row to stand amidst and on top the of crowd. Great set, great band.

Street Dogs

New York hardcore giants Agnostic Front (again after a lengthy wait) came to the fore, guitars aloft and legs astride in their hardcore posture (Mr. Vinnie Stigma) before front man Roger Miret  took center stage and they enter their frenzied hardcore and powerful set which also instigates a manic mosh pit. The crowd had massed in numbers by then and the circle pits broke out near the front in some carnage. Never too much a fan of hardcore, the band did raise the energy and sound levels with some gusto, and the three quarters wearing five piece were full of praise for Cock Sparrer and honoured to be supporting them on the night. At the sets end is notably one of the most amazing encores I have ever seen, from the first guitar chord of ‘Gotta Go’, the entire crowd in massed unison belted out the lyrics in perfection before the band finished off the song and set in explosive fashion.

As the anticipation and excitement filtered through the venue, especially after Agnostic Fronts finale, the venue’s technical staff got to clearing the entire stage and revealing the orange backline and raised drum kit for Cock Sparrer. With the house music belting out loads of The Specials, a truly party atmosphere had developed. Members of the band and their crew almost lazily setup, completely at ease with the thousands waiting for them, this was their night.

Agnostic Front

The long intermission finally ends when the lights dimmed, the rear curtains withdrew revealing the massive Red and White logo for the band and purple backlight revealed the band striding to the stage in all their middle age unassuming glory accompanied by a piano piece.

The East End five piece started off with some great songs like ‘Riot Squad’, ‘Watch Your Back’ and ‘Working’. The apt ‘What it’s Like to be old’ is performed after front man Colin McFaull addresses the crowd about how they have had to wait 18 years to play London and it was great to be back. All of the band seemed at ease despite the expectations, I suppose playing in a band for more than 30 years will do that, but there is still a great energy that resonated from them all and the atmosphere was absolutely electric.

‘Last train to Dagenham’ is adapted to “London” and then “Camden” the whole while the crowd singing in full voice in support of every song without needing promoting. Colin breaks into ‘Tough Guys’ and ‘Argy Bargy’ with in-between banter; short, funny and poignant, but never overly serious as is their way.

I will be honest I was completely blown away by how many songs I recognised and the set list just rolled into one long list of instantly likable, catchy, sing able and energetic choruses. “ I’ve Got Your Number’, ‘Suicide Girls’ etc.

The rest of the band did’t address the crowd directly but certainly didn’t fade into the background, with their solos, on stage antics and general performance; they all add their piece to the puzzle. Colin introduced each member in turn; Steve Bruce on drums and recently turned author, Steve Burgess on guitar and as the quiet one is also noted as the key song writer, Daryl on guitars and Mick on guitar before the apt ‘Because Your Young’.

Cock Sparrer

The set draws to a close and the massive sing along of ‘Take ‘em All’ and ‘Where Are They Now’ ensued with the multi cultural, haired or lack of and international diversified group of fans who had crammed into the venue and come from all corners of the globe to show their appreciation in full voice.

The encore which includes a strip show (not all the way) to accompany ‘Sunday Stripper  before the penultimate ‘England belongs to me’ with a lengthy sing along of the chorus “No one can take away our memory Oh Oh, England belongs to me”, fans on the balcony ignored pleas of the security to stay seated and finally “We’re coming back” before Colin joins in the front row of the crowd to end a quite spine tingling, goose bump inducing show.

It’s actually difficult to put in words how amazing the performance, reaction and atmosphere was, I have seen hundreds of shows, and many hundreds of bands over the years and Cock Sparrer seemingly at ease just blew away a decade worth’s of gig attendances in an hour and a half. There are many bands who were there and helped kick off punk rock in the late 70’s but by far this is the finest example of a band who has endured and managed to entertain and carry their spirit through the test of time.