It has long been debated whether or not punk is well and truly dead (or dying!). For the most part, over the past decade or so, punk and rock bands have been shunned out of the mainstream culture of music and replaced. Nevertheless, two of the most influential bands in punk to this day, Rancid, celebrating their 20th anniversary, and Cock Sparrer, celebrating their 40th, still succeed in selling out three successive dates at the acclaimed HMV Forum, which has been one of the leading venues in London since it's days as the Kentish Town Forum. Granted, Rancid and Cock Sparrer haven't released much in the way of new material, if any at all, but these three shows are surely going to be nothing but unadulterated punk rock.
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| Rancid Tour Poster |
First up of the notorious headliners is the East End band Cock Sparrer, arguably the inventors of the punk sub-genre Oi!. While obviously drawing more in the way of veteran punk fans to the show, they made this show uniquely British with their own brand of punk working class punk anthems. Certainly, they did whip the crowd up into a chanting frenzy, especially with the famous Take 'em All, but they lack the diversity and musicianship of Rancid. The biggest reception they received was when they were joined on stage by Lars Frederikson. For me, even though they were technically co-headlining, they were just a warm up for the band I had come here to see.
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| Cock Sparrer and Lars Frederikson |
After about five years of waiting to see Rancid, Californian punk legends, I finally get the chance to witness my favourite ska-punk band in the world. The hardly recognisable Tim Armstrong, obscured behind a mass of facial hair, opens up with the gradual opening of the '94 classic Radio, and then arguably the best bassist in punk rock Matt Freeman well and truly gets the gig going and soon enough the whole audience is dancing, skanking, moshing and chanting 'Here we go, here we go...'.
As Rancid have hardly paid the UK a visit since the release of, in my opinion, their rather mediocre album Let the Dominoes Fall in 2009, it was unclear whether or not this was going to be the typical nostalgic anniversary show, or whether it would be further promoting their most recently release. Fortunately for me, it wasn't the latter! Most tracks off my favourite Rancid album, ...And Out Come the Wolves, must have featured in the setlist. Maxwell Murder, in it's one minute thirty of incredible bass solos and speed, hypnotised the audience as they either watched Matt Freeman in awe or struggled to keep up with his incredible speed and skill.
It was however noticeable that, even though they had no trouble in energising the audience, Rancid themselves were tiring. Lars sometimes fell behind the lyrics especially during Dead Bodies and the band as a whole did remain mostly static on stage. Nonetheless, this was completely unnoticeable during the highlight of the night for me Time Bomb. Being possibly the first punk song I ever truly loved, I couldn't help but get involved in the pit and I definitely wasn't alone! After Rancid finished with Ruby Soho the Forum was left with pools of sweat, beer, blood and mud and hundreds of smashed up plastic cups and a few phones that I'm sure their owners won't be seeing again!
Despite the ages of both Rancid and Cock Sparrer, they are still just as popular and attracting yet more fans to see them live. True, punk may not have such a force in the commercial aspect of music any more but that doesn't mean it is dead! Judging from tonight, and I'm sure the other two nights, it's still going...just.
As Rancid have hardly paid the UK a visit since the release of, in my opinion, their rather mediocre album Let the Dominoes Fall in 2009, it was unclear whether or not this was going to be the typical nostalgic anniversary show, or whether it would be further promoting their most recently release. Fortunately for me, it wasn't the latter! Most tracks off my favourite Rancid album, ...And Out Come the Wolves, must have featured in the setlist. Maxwell Murder, in it's one minute thirty of incredible bass solos and speed, hypnotised the audience as they either watched Matt Freeman in awe or struggled to keep up with his incredible speed and skill.
It was however noticeable that, even though they had no trouble in energising the audience, Rancid themselves were tiring. Lars sometimes fell behind the lyrics especially during Dead Bodies and the band as a whole did remain mostly static on stage. Nonetheless, this was completely unnoticeable during the highlight of the night for me Time Bomb. Being possibly the first punk song I ever truly loved, I couldn't help but get involved in the pit and I definitely wasn't alone! After Rancid finished with Ruby Soho the Forum was left with pools of sweat, beer, blood and mud and hundreds of smashed up plastic cups and a few phones that I'm sure their owners won't be seeing again!
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| Tim Armstrong |
Despite the ages of both Rancid and Cock Sparrer, they are still just as popular and attracting yet more fans to see them live. True, punk may not have such a force in the commercial aspect of music any more but that doesn't mean it is dead! Judging from tonight, and I'm sure the other two nights, it's still going...just.
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