Saturday 22 March 2025

Saturday 22 March 2025. STIFF LITTLE FINGERS live at The Roundhouse . Punk legends are playing their annual UK March tour. This is the last show on the tour. I have seen them over 20 times since 1978. These were the first three times... Lurkers, Ivor Biggun, Johnny Moped,Stiff Little Fingers Lyceum Theatre, London 10.09.1978 Tom Robinson Band,Stiff Little Fingers , Hammersmith Odeon, London 08.10.1978 Gang Of Four,Stiff Little Fingers,Human League,Fall,Mekons Lyceum Theatre, London 25.03.1979 Support comes from RICKY WARWICK AND THE FIGHTING HEARTS who is promoting his new solo album ' Blood Ties'. It got some good reviews , so went in the charts at Number 25. Alongside his work with The Almighty, Black Star Riders, and sometimes Thin Lizzy, Ricky has had a solo career spanning well over 20 years....i have seen him on stage a few times. Football legend STUART PEARCE this week said he would be attending the gig , as he is a massive punk rock fan. He recently had a health scare while on a plane. ---------------- A mainly older punk rockin' crowd, but plenty of youngsters. RICKY WARWICK and band on at 7.45pm for their 45 mins set . Ricky and band did a good set of rockin' tunes ,including a beat cover of The Heartbreakers ' Born To Lose'. STIFF LITTLE FINGERS on at 9pm for their 80 mins set. The familiar strains of instrumental Go For It blast out complete with audience chants, the obligatory intro to any Stiff Little Fingers (SLF) gig, before the band play an excellent mix of new tracks , lesser known tracks, rarely played tracks and SLF anthems. Plenty of stage banter from Jake Burns throughout. Plenty of dancing and moshing front stalls standing. The last half dozen tracks were proper belters. What can say about the tingle that you get every time when you hear the opening chords of 'Alternative Ulster' . SLF always put on a great show. Straight after the show I saw STUART PEARCE on the Chalk Farm tube station platform with his mate. Full SLF setlist played tonight.... Intro Tape - Go for It Roots, Radics, Rockers, Reggae ( Bunny Wailer cover) At the Edge Wasted Life Won’t Be Told Strummerville Mary's Boy Child Straw Dogs Piccadilly Circus Just Fade Away Each Dollar a Bullet Harp My Dark Places Nobody's Hero Tin Soldiers Suspect Device Gotta Gettaway Encore: Barbed Wire Love Alternative Ulster ---------------------------------- ----------------------------------- Friday 21 March 2025. SEX PISTOLS with FRANK CARTER live at The 100 Club. This was a not so secret gig under the name of S.P.O.T.S. ( Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly ) which the band used in 1977. A warm up show for their Royal Albert Hall gig on Monday. Needless to say that the venue is rammed solid sold out. I am here with best friend Billy Lay. We were both at The 100 Club in 1976 for both days of The 100 Club Punk Festival , when The Sex Pistols played. The photo of us below is In front of the photo currently on the wall of The 100 Club opposite Glen's stage position ...Steve Jones from 1976 at The 100 Club Punk Festival ...I am in the photo front of stage by the top of the microphone. See my Facebook page for the photos from the night. Me and Billy went to the same secondary school as Cook n Jones, but they were three years older than us. Billy lived 100 yards from Wally Nightingale. We were very impressed that a band from our school were playing gigs " up The West End " ...so we saw them three times in 1976. Good to see so many punk rockin' friends here . PAUL WELLER , NOEL GALLAGHER, BOBBY GILLESPIE and GARY KEMP was spotted here. I was told during the day of an early 8.30pm stage start , so we Got inside the venue around 7.45pm. Up first is DJ Rhoda Dakar(The Bodysnatchers ) spinning tunes. THE SEX PISTOLS with FRANK CARTER arrived on stage at 8.35pm and played for 70 mins The Pistols have always had rumours of 100 Club gigs for all of their reunion tours , but i would presume John Lydon would never be interested in any kind of that nostalgia trip. However in Frank Carter , they have found the perfect front man. Three times he jumped into the crowd , and was even walking on fans shoulders , as he hung on to the venues ceiling pipes. His energy was full on amazing 100% commitment. No real surprise there were were a couple of stop starts. It got so hot in The 100 Club , that Steve Jones had to sit down in a chair in the second half for sections of some songs. Needless to say the setlist was all killer. Slight setlist change , with the main one being the addition of 'Steppin' Stone' which was not played at the three Bush Hall or The Forum shows i went to. It was a 10/10 gig from me. Full setlist played tonight.... Holidays in the Sun Seventeen New York Pretty Vacant Bodies Silly Thing Liar God Save the Queen I'm Not Your Stepping Stone ( Paul Revere and the Raiders cover) Submission Satellite No Feelings No Fun (The Stooges cover) Problems E.M.I. Encore: Anarchy in the U.K. ( the band didn't actually leave the stage) Note: My Way was on the stage setlist as the first encore before Anarchy In The UK, but it was not played.

Posted 22nd March 2025