This is the first time in over a decade that my first gig review during August isn't The Rebellion FestivAL, that's next weekend, so we got to go to The Troubadour to see this classic double bill again. We had a classic late night London journey to the gig, when we found out we'd missed the last train to West Brompton from Brondesbury Park as it left before 7.30 pm! We got to the station at 7.32. After a wALk to Queens Park the Bakerloo Line gave up at Warwick Avenue and we wALked to Paddington from there finALly getting into The Troubadour about 10 minutes or so after the Electrics set had started and during Victim Suspect whose guitars sounded suitably gritty, while they tried to determine which you were.
NaturAL Born Killer was played a bit faster than normAL but with ALan Blizzard yelping the vocals like he meant every last word. You Don't Know Me was the rogues charter re-written as we'll never know what you reALly get up to, accompanied by Jenny Lanes full on bass.
We then had a battle between Robert Jones and ALan to see whose guitar playing was dirtier on No Shit with its sing along chorus and fade out. AL then I think dedicated what I have down as It Used To Be to the memory of Roxanne Fontana who had died the day before, sadly another CBGB's related underground legend had gone. This had enough emotion and sadness to be a cool tribute.
Nite FALls Down was good and crunchy with some rather angular guitar playing. Looks Are Deceiving no matter what Electrics look like, they sound like a full-on spunky punk 'n Roll band in their prime. Al then got all hermetic on Leave Me ALone, ALthough I suspect he really wanted some more adulation before they closed with My City that was a great romp through London's seedy underbelly.
After the break it was time for the current line-up of The Dirty Strangers to keep Rock & Roll ALive with A Riot On The Western Front as the poster claimed this gig would be, they opened with Slap Bang In The Middle that allowed Guy Griffin to let loose on guitar with some real sizzle, Hunters Moon was next and loads of us were singing ALong to the title track to the bands last LP. They dipped further back for State Of Affair that had a great dirty bassline from John Proctor and ALan Clayton's normal cheeky grin vocals. Even though it's August AL's claim it was a Cold Night didn't seem out of place, with Lol Fox's drums tingling with the odd shiver or two.
AL then asked the audience R U Satisfied, well were we, of course we were this was a great tight version with some nice and sleazy guitar from Guy, like he ALways is AL was soon looking for his Baby, mainly in the hope she'll bring him a shot of Tequila and he won't get caught with his Hands Up again, missing songs on the set list, still most of the audience did in fact have there Hands Up. It was then time to find out if there were any Bad Girls in the audience, this got a good all femALe mosh pit going, among some of the Bad Girls in the Troubadour. AL then dedicated Pirates Don't Get Pensions to ALl the musicians and artists who well don't have a Pension, he also gave a shout out to his wife Jackie for being his own personAL pension plan, Guy really hammed it up on his guitar during this one.
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We were all encouraged to join in singing the chorus to recent single La La La I Couldn't Care Less that had a greasy stones vibe to it. Slow It Down was sung like AL was worried the brakes were gonna fail let ALone any other kind of disaster that might befALl them. AL was up to no good again and needed Jackie's help once more as they tore through My Girl's A Getaway Driver it was foot to the floor action.
AL then dedicated Diamonds to the memory Of Roxanne Fontana who Guy and he worked with at last years Nuggets shows at the 100 Club, this was a bit slower than usuAL and full of emotion at losing another musician friend too soon.
Now it was time to make clear they were a Shepherds Bush band before ripping through South Of The River like they were scared they might get marooned in Sydenham or some other unimaginable nightmare. AL asked if someone else could tell the story of She's A Real Botticelli the song he wrote with Keef Richards while making dinner at Redlands one evening, while listening to an audio book that used the phrase that they both thought was a perfect song title, which is how this brilliant romp of a tune came about, or something like that, this version was good and bALlsy.
Just as they were ready to launch into Shepherds Bush City Limits ALan Blizzard slipped onto the stage to augment the sound with his licks, while they went all wide screen, like Mr Clayton was still the king of the bush, certainly most of us were singing along with them. He was then revving up his motor outside so they could roar through Gold Cortina like they'd had a super noisy muffler added to it. This only left time for a great version of House Party that on the breakdown had some wry and funny intro's to the band and thanks to everyone for showing up for another great show by the Dirty Strangers.
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