Review:
'LURE, WALTER/ PARKINSONS, THE/ ELECTRIC RIVER'
'London, Camden Underworld, 10th August 2013'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
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Our Rating:
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Yes, WALTER LURE is back for another UK tour this time including an appearance at this year's Rebellion Festival in Blackpool and to celebrate the re-issue of The Waldo's Rent Party album by Jungle Records The Waldo's Renty Party LP at Jungle Records he is once again joined by the same UK backing band as on his last two UK tours which is no bad thing.
Before we get to Walter we managed to get into the Underworld early enough to catch a good slice of second band on, ELETRIC RIVER. I pity the first band on playing to an empty club as who gets to a gig before 7pm? Still, when we walked in Electric River were playing something that had a lot of "Alright"s in the chorus and sounded like they were a cross between John Cougar Mellencamp and Steve Earle with a dash of Springsteen thrown in for good measure.
Lay Low certainly had that melodic rock feel to it and the singer gave it everything he had as did the rest of the band on Victor. It was sort of a fight song of a kind and it also had a few echoes of Big Country and the Mega City Four. They then sang a song about their home town of Ashford in Kent. That was pretty damn good. The song they finished their set with was a tribute to Wilko Johnson called Keep The Engine Burning which was pretty heartfelt and they even managed to get the crowd singing along.
After the break it was time for the return of THE PARKINSONS. They are undoubtedly the finest Portuguese punk band ever to come out of Somerstown! Great to see the classic line-up onstage for a rampage through their classic Bedsit City from the Streets Of London single with Alfonso back at his demented, twitching Iggy- style front man best rather than playing the drums as he has in his other bands. I love the energy they have as Victor Torpedo (or Sardine as he is known in the art world) goes mental on guitar, jumping and rolling around as he plays and he was the first member of the band to dive into the now busy crowd.
Al Zheimer greeted us all in his own inimitable style before they played what I put down as After Dark: another super-charged amphetamine punk classic that was followed by Primitive, the lead track on their classic album A Long Way to Nowhere that had most of the folks near the front shouting along with the band. Pedro's bass rumbled on, just right to keep things steady as Victor went ever more demented on his guitar. I think Al even made me look out of time with my singing along and gave me a big grin as he did it!
They then played a couple of new songs that sound much like the old songs (thankfully) and had just as much energy. Al was throwing every twisted pose he could come up with while wrapping the microphone cord around his neck as he was singing on the second song about making us happy: well he had certainly done that judging by all the smiling faces I was surrounded by.
They then played the new single, What I Want (is that what it's called?). It sounded great; the kind of full on Punk assault we know and love. They then launched into Nothing To Lose where Victor launched himself into the audience once more and after writhing on the floor, rolled back onstage and disconnected his guitar in spectacular fashion. This caused a long break during which Al did his best to entertain us before the guitar started working again and they could launch into the second half like nothing had gone wrong.
This was obviously the right time to sing I Need Help after that mishap but damn the jumps and twists that went into this speedball of a tune! They followed in fine style with another couple of new ones to work us all up ready for the monster that is She's A Bad Girl: a huge sing a long as everyone joined in. As everyone was now fully amped up, they closed their set with I'm So Lonely I'm so Alone. It was as demented as anything they played in this set and as Al Zheimer did the chorus over and over he dived into the audience as he always does and started shoving his microphone in various faces to join him. A great end to yet another great Parkinsons set. If you haven't seen them live make sure you do if you can.
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After The Parkinsons, everyone was more than ready for Walter Lure and his UK Irregulars who feature most of Gunfire Dance, plus Jez Miller from Lords Of The New Church and The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing among other bands.
They open in proper Heartbreakers fashion with One Track Mind that gets the place singing along It was good to have most of the Drellas as backing singers standing behind us for most of the set!! Walter gave his standard introduction of "this is a song by a dead man" for I'm So Sorry. Like hell he is, he's loving every minute up there and the band are as well. Still it's time for Walter to poke fun at us London Boys again, it's a great fun version and "Jezebel" as Walter has rechristened him played a blinding solo on it.
We then got the Waldo's tune Cry Baby written by the late Tony Coiro. It sounded mighty good but damn, poor Walter's been left All By Myself Again which was an excuse for a mass sing along as they nailed the tune. I'm Busted wasn't quite as blues-y as the last time I saw Walter in 2011. This was a more rocked up version. He then went back to the New York Dolls for a great version of Chatterbox before all guitars started blazing on Baby Talk.
I guess most of us will Take A Chance With Me. That was described by Walter as the band's "pick up tune" and he arched his eyebrows just enough to give the right impression. Time for a message to us all to Get Off The Phone. There's no one at home and not just because it's written by a dead guy either but damn, Born To Lose still sounds fantastic and I doubt many people weren't singing along to it.
As with the Purple Turtle show in 2011, it was time for Walter to introduce a member of the Living Dead as special guest. Now last time he resurrected Billy Rath from the pulpit he'd been hiding in, but this time he brought up Steve Dior from the London Cowboys for a full on rampage through Too much Junkie Business and Steve attacked Walter's guitar like his life depended on it. A great version even if Walter didn't give us the full dance routine this time.
They then closed the set with Chinese Rocks: yup, a song by a dead guy played full pelt as everyone sang along and were glad they weren't sucking that Chinese cock.
It didn't take too much to get them back for an encore and Walter got most of The Parkinsons onstage for backing vocals on Let Go firstly, before they did 7 Day Weekend. Finally, a song by a live guy!! Yes Gary US Bonds is still alive! That saw even more folks up on backing vocals including Mike Spenser from the Cannibals and it was a great end to the evening, only we all went mad enough to get a second encore of Do You Love Me: a question this lot really don't need to ask as we love Walter Lure and are very happy indeed that he came and played!
A perfect end to a great gig that only finished about 2 hours before a band like this should start playing!!
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author: simonovitch
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