This was Instigators first London show since 1991 apparently, so a super rare chance to see them live to celebrate the re-release of the bands Phoenix and Shockgun albums from 1986 and 1988, this show is part of a short 4 date reunion tour of the UK and Poland. This was our second post Rebellion gig where we got to see bands we missed at Rebellion, with Instigators becoming the 60th band I've seen this month so far.
We arrived in time to see the first band on Diaz Brothers who opened with All Of You that had some good meaty guitars and rather poppy vocals from Dave Golledge who got us all going, the hardcore beat of Hourglass really propelled it's sentiments that there was nobody left, they started to get a few fans bouncing along for As I Tear with Neal Cox and Michael Jones guitars working against each other in powerful ways.
They dedicated Empty Bar Stool to Burt one of the bands friends who died a few days ago, this was impassioned and full of the pain of loss. They then pulled on the purple blazers for a great version of Secret Affair's My World that loads of us sang along too, this was a great meaty version. By My Side saw Dave stalking the stage as the guitars drove it along. No Justification was full of pain and cries of agony before they closed with Hating Nation that stuck to the bands melodic hardcore template pretty well.
Next on were Yur Mum the hard touring London based Brazilian duo who I feel I should have seen loads by now, but somehow this is I think the first time I've seen Yur Mum. From the opening of what I guess was Hey What You Gonna Do Annelize Kunz bass playing was right in our faces, low slung and scuzzy in the right ways, Annelize really grabbed things on Inside Your Face as Fabio Couto's powerhouse drumming drove them along, Annelize often played her bass like a lead guitar and great growling riffs emerged. The song that jumped out of the set was Immigrant about arriving in a new country and trying to survive, it was a duet with Fabio leading the song off into its dark journey. New Beginnings had a bit of an L7 edge to it and Annelize was angry about things she needed to be angry about.
Social Media was full of bile for how it's controlling so many minds and people need to live their real lives first. The last song had some Portuguese lyrics as well as English bits about Sweat Shops that new arrivals end up toiling in, I need to see them again, but in a month when I've seen fewer bands to give them a better chance.
After the break it was time for Instigators return opening with the brutally angular Tricked & Abused with Simon Mooney abusing his guitar to get just the right amount of tension from it, Andy Turner was staring us down with his foot on the monitor as he declaimed the words to Blood/Free before he told us people are suffering, with life going Full Circle with Gary Jackson's bass detonating the intense hell scape they were creating, Andy was calling for a much needed revolution on Cry Freedom accompanied by Dan Le-Billion's drums of freedom.
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Old Is Sad was caustic suicide bombing of the generation we've all become, with the mosh pit in full all ages flow, it may have been dark and dank in the Underworld but no one was Dark & Lonely while Instigators were in full flow, Andy making clear why so many people were over excited at his guest vocalist spots last year, they had been playing a game of Watch & Wait until he could be persuaded to re-ignite his passion for owning a stage. Andy made clear that Computerage is more salient now, than when it was originally written in the 80's, all the fears have come true and then some, it was taut passionate and like the entire set amazingly tight. Things got even darker with the arrival of the Suicide Investigation Team that hinted towards Big Black at their most colossal.
Andy was correctly raging against too many Rules another thing we have far more of that we did in the 80's, before they made clear what side they were on with a blistering Intolerhater, before making sure the set wasn't all rage and brutality, we got a little bit of Hedonism that had Simon's happiest sounding guitar parts. They may have survived this far but made clear we all have a One Way Ticket so make the most of the ride, while Gary pushed his bass headstock into the amp wringing every ounce out of his strings. Sadly, Situation Desperate sounded very much like an anthem for the 2020's before they closed with the imperious Ignorance Is Bliss a condition many of us wish we could be in.
The Underworld made certain that Instigators had to play an encore and it opened with them deciding to Dine Upon The Dead that sounded like they were more than ready to go double deep and gorge themselves, Eye To Eye saw Andy making eye contact with loads of the audience who weren't moshing like crazy, before they closed with The Fix that was a suitable end to a truly impressive set, I hope they can be persuaded to play a few more shows.
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