Monday, March 14, 2011

The Stranglers WIlko Johnson Mike Marlin

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On 12th March I got to the O2 Academy at canton to seven assuming I would be queueing to determine the doors had opened early, and that the gig would be finishing earlier than planned so that the Academy could get on with a club night. I pretended that this would think it was an evening where everything was rushed and not going to plan; however, to my surprise everything went well.


First act Mike Marlin came on to a real small crew and played an impressive set of his unique take on rock/britpop. His baritone vocals become almost like another instrument. He seems to be lacking confidence tonight however, saying "this one ever goes wrong" or "let's hope this song goes better than the end" many times, despite the fact that he was on top form. The cover of 'Stayin' Alive' by The Bee Gees that he played was a superb downbeat take on the classic disco track. He concluded the set to a handful of applause, as everybody then trudged to the bar before making it back only in time for next act Wilko Johnson.

When faced with having to survey a legend such as Wilko Johnson I was afraid, because if he played badly I would get to knock someone that I, as a guitarist, have admired for a very long time. However much to my relief Wilko played brilliantly, and his set of rock n roll tunes went down really good with the crew too. It seemed as though many people were here but to see Wilko play, as there were many people wearing Wilko Johnson t-shirts and many people singing along to all of his songs.

The way this man moves about the point is unique, nobody else can be so strict and yet go around so quickly, it is as if he is a statue and soul is pulling him along, he seems to be in the same situation even when moving around.

He played a very polished set that got a big reception from the crew and put everybody in the climate for headline act The Stranglers.

The Stranglers used their song Waltzinblack from their 1980 album 'The Gospel According To The Meninblack' as the call they walked onstage to, and then launched directly into classic track 'I Feel Like A Wog'. The song got a really good reception from the gang and started a moshpit containing a variety of 40 year old punks, who were there from the start, and students, who are just starting to get into this music. I was split of the latter group and I was agreeably surprised by the number of vitality that punk still seems to have, 30 days from when it was first around.

The band's singles went down the best: 'Peaches', 'Always The Sun' and 'Golden Brown' in particular going down well, with a huge singalong from the crowd. The crew continued to dance through the band's very long set, which included songs such as 'Dead Loss Angeles', 'Relentless' and 'Nuclear Device'.

The Stranglers went offstage before coming back on to gambling 2 encores, the first comprising of 'Hanging Around' and 'Duchess', both of which went down really easily and the moshing became increasingly violent.

And so the second encore, which started with a superb cover of The Kinks' 'All Day And All Of The Night', which in my thought was the spotlight of the evening. They complete the second encore with their punk anthem 'No More Heroes', which perfectly over the evening in one big burst of energy, both from the set and their fans.

Everybody then was quickly ordered to give the academy at 10.30pm so that they could clear the order in a speed for the 11pm club night, which nobody from this gig seemed to be sticking around for, and there was no need, after a gig like that any other class of amusement that night would have been a huge disappointment.

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