Review:
'PARKINSONS, THE/ HIP PRIESTS, THE/ DISTRAS, LOUISE'
'London, Islington, The Lexington, 18th Dec 2014'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
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Our Rating:
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Yes,I finally get to see the re-united Parkinsons playing the Some Weird Sin Christmas special, having not been well enough to see them when they played earlier in the year and after this ram raid of a show I think I was only just well enough for this one!
We arrived just after LOUISE DISTRAS had started her set and were greeted by Afonso Pinto who gave me a big hug that let my knackered shoulder know all about it, but as it's Al Zheimer it's allowed and the beer soon helped sooth any extra pain.
So Louise Distras, who we missed at Rebellion and another couple of gigs earlier in the year, was busy singing a set of protest songs that made her sound like a female Billy Bragg if Billy came from Wakefield rather than Barking. The first song we heard all of was about living in the shadows and was pretty good and gritty.
She then did an angry poem about working like a slave day and night to get by; almost like an update of Piss Factory but without the iconography of that gem. Then she sang a sad little tale about why we all cry she was quite forceful in her delivery which explained why this Folkie always seems to be on Punk bills.
Then she unplugged and jumped onto the dancefloor that was still not that full for the rest of her set. She played totally unplugged for the first of these songs, which was about memory before she got much more topical with Bullets, which that had plenty of edge to it in its raw delivery.
The next song passed me by and she closed with a song about The Hands You Hold. It was quite cool but to be honest on a bill like this she didn't do nearly enough to grab our attention.
Unlike THE HIP PRIESTS who grabbed us by the balls from the moment they came on stage. They entered in a hurricane of noise as the singer started doing his best Iggy meets Stiv routine while shouting about being a "Vodka coma Casanova" over the Ramones meets Stooges garage biker rock that is enforced by the band's Biker gang look. They sounded much better than the last time I saw them at Some Weird Sin some time ago.
They also got the crowd going while the driving riff nailed just how much they knew the Motherfucker Superior and we needed to know it too. that might have been when the singer dived into the crowd for the first time but they rammed the point of the night home with Gimme Some Fun )or whatever that nugget is called). It was followed by the demented yelps of "Yeah Yeah Yeahs" and I have no idea what that one's called.
But then they played the bands biggest tune so far, Jesus Died So We Could Ride, a great biker punk tune, the demented mosher at the front really going and he was finally joined by another couple of dancers but not with his level of insanity. Watching him spit on himself and do the snake across the floor was, however, quite funny. Next they were off Outta my Head (Into Your Pants): a real grinder of a tune.
They then introduced a new song as being Instant Delinquent. It was as insanely raucous as the rest of the set before they closed with what I have down as Ain't No Reviver and Forever And Fucked Up: a pair of no nonsense biker punk classics to bring a great raw set to a close. The last two also featured the maddest moshing of their set that included some wheelbarrow action things to get us off the hook.
But not as off the hook as THE PARKINSONS as they are in a class of madness of their own. It seems the band's new drummer had one whole rehearsal before this opening show of their short UK Xmas tour that opened with Primitive and damn did it ever sound Primitive. It took Afonso Pinto all of 20 seconds to launch himself into the now packed dancefloor like a demented street preacher as just about everyone sang the chorus of how it was a Long Road to Nowhere while Victor Torpedo thrashed at his guitar and Pedro Xau's bass was a weapon of noise destruction.
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Chaos had already broken loose, so could they control the madness or would it just be insanity all night from here? Well, Angel In the Dark just upped the stakes somewhat with Afonso more in the crowd than onstage, haranguing anyone foolish enough to not pay attention to him and hugging some of the rest of us as he went by, also grabbing whatever drinks he could. It was a vision of mental music and mental performance as the lines blurred between stage and audience and the odd stage diver started appearing onstage while Afonso was up the back of the Lexington screaming into his Microphone as Victor and Pedro tried to keep the music the right side of sane.
They had a false start on one of the newer songs as Afonso forgot his cue or something but it didn't matter as only the band had noticed among the welter of noise and general madness. After all, no one expected a tight performance, as they were never that kind of band. Still Bedsit City still sounded fantastically seedy and fucked up and it might have been the point of the evening when Afonso decided to sit and sing at the back and cleared the top of the wall of glasses and bottles; smashing a good few onto the dancefloor without anyone batting an eyelid before he jumped down onto where the broken glass now lay before coming past me and pulling my hair like it was normal thing to do. Which, at a Parkinsons gig it pretty much is!
As for what the songs they sang, I pretty much lost the plot as much as they did as the noise went up and the moshing got crazy and Afonso claimed he had a Girlfriend from Another World. We all believed him, it's easier that way.
I don't believe for a minute that I wrote they have a song called I Was Running, it must be a mistake, well apart from that the song is called Running of course!! But it was another great slab of noise and madness followed by another new song. My notes suggested its title was Troubles of a showman, but that must be wrong and that goes for the next two songs too, so I won't even guess. it was just madness anyway and the whole place lapped it up.
They brought things to a close with a great ramshackle, nuts as can be version of Bad Girl that then left Afonso onstage telling us the last song was called I'm So Horny. I'm sure he was and his self-deprecating routine was hysterical as they just blasted the place apart to finish a simply chaotic riot of a set. If you ever get a chance to see them play do not miss it, but be ready for the chaos.
We were worn out by the end of the set, so God only knows how the band felt. Great to have them back again though.
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author: simonovitch
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