Less Than Jake / Dropkick Murphys / The Living End / Billy No Mates

Snuff legend Duncan Redmonds fronts (or rather backs) his ‘solo’ project Billy No Mates, a near on unique idea. Taking members of underground bands he has built East and West teams – one in Japan and one in the UK. Tonight’s West side do a grand job of warming up the crowd, but with the doors opening at 6pm and them only getting a slot of 20 minutes, it’s a sorry affair for supporters like me who miss most of their set. And I get the feeling the crowd are too young to remember Snuff.

The Living End, multiple awards winners in their native Australia, have a bit more time to show off their punkabilly stuff. If there was a show called Pimp My Double Bass, Scott Owens (the ‘upright bassist’) had the perfect example from it. That didn’t stop singer Chris Cheney from standing partially on it for a guitar solo. It’s no wonder they are signed to Billie Joe Armstrong’s Adeline Records, as they have an energetic live show that is based on crowd satisfaction, other than playing what they want; tough cheese.

A soft Celtic tune through the huge speaker stacks indicates the arrival of the Dropkick Murphys, Boston’s punk/folk/hardcore gathering (I say gathering as there are seven of them, eight if you count the guest female vocalist).Not as soft as Flogging Molly, more Oi! as the vocals are provided by most of the lads simultaneously, giving a huge testosterone boost.



“In case you didn’t know, the Dropkick’s aren’t emo!” You don’t say. The mainly fast pace of the songs is not what makes this band special, it’s how the punk and Irish folk genres are mixed using bagpipes, banjos and accordion topped off with some all-American yelling. The last two songs take place with well over a hundred girls onstage, plucked from the crowd in a never-ending stream (oddly all the same height(?)). The headline slot may have been decided on the toss of a coin; I see it as a double gig, say, with both DM and LTJ having the same time slots.

Less Than Jake are as raucous and bouncy as ever, pulling faces like kids on the back of a bus. They have the banter of NOFX, telling jokes (not all that funny, but it’s the way you tell ‘em) and running around chasing each other. First track ‘All My Best Friends Are Metalheads’ sends the crowd into a frenzy, along with ‘Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts’ and ‘Sugar In Your Gas Tank’.


“Alright Norrinham!” yells Chris Demakes, refusing to pronounce it correctly and donned in a trilby and black wig. Halfway through the set someone’s mum is invited onstage to cavort around Chris and his hat, prompting giggles from Roger, while JR and especially Buddy cause chaos with various halloween masks.

You can not fault them as a fun live band who can ensure a memorable show. My only gripe is that this is hardly an arena show; the seats are empty and the floor is only two thirds full. However Rock City would have been too small, so I have no point to make!

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.