"I Woke up on a good day,
and the world was wonderful"
The Stranglers live at Birmingham O2 Academey
So far this year, I've been lucky enough to have been to large gigs each month (Mogwai in Jan, Dream Theater in Feb) with March being my final one so far. This month's gig was British New Wave/Punk band, The Stranglers on their Ruby Anniversary tour. Like the other bands I've seen this year, this was my first time seeing the band live, so I was once again a little unsure of what to expect.
I can safely say that Saturday's gig was the best I've been to this year, and probably won't be beaten anytime soon! (Or until Rush tour again...)
Setlist:
Waltzinblack (Recorded
London Lady
No More Heroes
Coup De Grace
Was It You?
Threatened
Summat Outanowt
Peasant in the Big Shitty
Still Life
Peaches
Midnight Summer Dream
Golden Brown
Always The Sun
Genetix
Thrown Away
Never to look Back
Nuclear Device
Skin Deep
Time To Die
Lowlands
Valley of The Birds
Nice "N" Sleazy
Walk On By (Dionne Warwick Cover)
Freedom is Insane
Duchess
Five Minutes
Hanging Around
Encore 1:
Norfolk Coast
Something Better Change
All Day And All of The Night (Kinks cover)
Encore 2:
Tank
Meninblack (Recorded)
*Not 100% sure all the songs are in the right order..
To clebrate their 40th anniversary, the band had said that they would play at least one track from each of their 17 studio albums, as well as most of their "hits", resulting in a monster set, and a show that lasted just over two hours.
The set itself was varied with harder faster songs such as "London lady" and "Norfolk Coast" really got the crowd going, whilst lighter tunes such as "Golden Brown" and "Never To Look Back" showed the band's more mellow side.
Seeing as the band has such a wide discography, I went into the gig fully aware that I wouldn't know all the songs played, but that really didn't matter, as there was a good mix of songs I knew, and ones that I now know!
Seeing as the band've been going since 1974, three out of the four members are over 60, whilst guitarist and frontman Baz Warne is a mere 49! Despite their great ages, the band put on a ridiculously high energy show, which coupled with their hardcore fans made for an amazing evening.
It must be noted that the band's original drummer, Jet Black only played on three of the songs during Saturday's set (Golden brown, Always The Sun & Genetix) and has only appeared sporadically through this tour due to health problems. Given that he's 74 and still able to play Genetix (it's not an easy drum part) is remarkable, as I highly doubt I'd be able to at 74!
Session drummer Jim Macaulay plays drums for the rest of the set, and is a superb drummer.
All in all, Saturday's gig was brilliant, and I hope that the band'll make some more live appearances in the coming years before retiring. Personal highlights for me were the Keyboard Symphony that is "Midnight Summer Dream", Jet Black's appearance and the three songs he played, and the ghostly "Never To Look Back", though the whole gig, band and atmosphere were amazing.
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