THE DROPKICK MURPHYS
LONDON BRIXTON ACADEMY
4/5
Brixton is full of people swigging Guinness, pretending its St. Patrick’s Day and wearing at least some green tonight. Why? Because Celtic punk heroes the Dropkicks are in town to party, that’s why. Before that though, the crowd is warmed up brilliantly by the long-awaited return (their first London show in seven years) of reformed Californian punks FACE TO FACE, with Trever Keith and company clad in black and blasting through breakneck-paced fan favourites like ‘Disconnected’ and ‘I Want’, with people (including myself) screaming back every word, punching the air and grinning from ear to ear. As a half-cut crowd chanted “Let’s go Murphys!”, the lights went down and an Irish folk song welcomed THE DROPKICK MURPHYS on a stage covered in giant stained-glass windows. For an hour and a half this was the Murphys’ church, with an irrepressibly energetic band and crowd celebrating life (and getting shit faced) to songs like ‘(F)lannigan’s Ball’, ‘I’m Shipping Up To Boston’ and ‘The State Of Massachusetts’. Hallelujah!
Ian Chaddock
IGGY & THE STOOGES
SUICIDE
LONDON HAMMERSMITH APOLLO
5/5
I have to say I wasn't expecting that much from Iggy and his James Williamson era Stooges tonight as they attempted to play one of the greatest ever punk albums, ‘Raw Power’, in its entirety. Williamson has been out of music for years working as Vice President of technology at Sony, but having since retired, here he is back at Iggy’s side, strapping on his Gibson Les
Paul again. But from the moment they launch into the albums' title track it’s clear that these Stooges mean business. In what is a chaotic, rocket fuelled 90 minutes Iggy orders a stage invasion (“Nice work guys, especially you with the glasses!"), repeatedly dives into the crowd, humps the stage and berates the people upstairs for being posh. We get 'I Need Somebody', 'Search And Destroy' and even some songs from the rarely heard Kill City EP. The band are a powerhouse, supporting a maniacal frontman who puts kids a third of his age to shame. He may sell insurance now but Iggy is still the world’s forgotten boy. Legendary.
Eugene Big Cheese
