JOE STRUMMER TRIBUTE NIGHT - Glasgow, King Tuts (22/12/06)
The 4th annual tribute night in aid of Strummerville, Joes charity foundation, kicked of with the Cool Jerks from Central Scotland (mainly Falkirk), playing it for the 3rd year in a row, opening the show saying this is how Joe started and ripped into the 101'ers Letsagetabitarockin, followed by an excellent working of Jimmy Jazz, Stay Free and finished by saying this is how it finished for Joe with Coma Girl from Joe & the Mescaleros. The Cool Jerks deserve credit for being the only band to attempt anything from the 101'ers & the Mescaleros and an early slot helped them as they got time for 4 numbers! They were well received and set the tone for what was to follow!
Next up were Dead City Riots (formerly Freeview), who had also played the tribute night previously, and blasted through their set including, appropriately enough White Riot & Career opportunities! The sell out crowd was fast filling the venue up and getting into the Clash vibe! DCR are mainly from Glasgow and have been getting a bit of local airplay on XFM and good live reviews and are worth checking out!
A word about the venue, for reasons that will become clear further on, King Tuts is a small, low ceilinged, initimate venue in Glasgow city centre, and is regularly voted venue of the year in various polls and was where Creation saw & signed Oasis. It doesnt feature as a main punk venue although I have seen the Dead Kennedys, Spear of Destiny & the Alarm, DMW in there, it caters more for indie and up and coming bands but not mainstream radio friendly stuff as such. The venue certainly helped the mood and vibe of the tribute night and the backing music of the Dead Kennedys certainly helped keep the good nostalgia vibe going!
The bands followed thick & fast with 10-15 minute sets including Glasgow legends The Zips who played a storming set. Also a band called Catcher, who were good, and paused to allow a woman called Lucy on stage to read out a letter from Topper who had also spoken to Joes wife, thanking us for our support of Strummerville and to say that like us, they cannot get Joe out of their heads and hearts. A poignant message. The show cranked on with bands called Sucioperro, Nibushi Shang Hong & the 10.1'ers! All doing quality covers of various Clash footstomping classics!
Next up were a band that played last year, Glasvegas, who are heavily touted up here as being a 'next big thing'. The singer looks similar in some ways to Joe! I saw them last year and they played one of the best interpretations of Bank Robber that I have heard, similar to Hawskley Workman on Uncuts cd tribute to the Clash. However, this year they only played two songs, Guns of Brixton & Brand new cadillac, which were good, but I expected more from them.
Next up were last years headliners, the Counterfeit Clash, who also put on a good show and I reckon one of the better Clash tribute bands on the circuit. By now Clash tunes had been banging out for a couple of hours, the beer flowing and the Kennedys on in the background to keep the mood 'excitable'! The Counterfeits played a good few numbers but had warn to crowd to calm down a couple of times!
The last band on were Combat Rock, who had the headline slot. They are a 4 piece tribute band from Glasgow who have been around for several years but various line up changes and work committments have limited their gigs over the years, to the extent tonight they were fronted by the lead singer from Rebel Truce, who also stood in at the recent 30th Anniversary of Punk gig Glasgow Carling.
As I said the mood had become excitable or euphoric or call it what you like but what happened next, I have not seen at a gig for many many years. The plug was pulled by the venues management and the band taken off stage! Why I hear you ask? The band struck up a few songs and beer got thrown at the stage and light rig and the bouncers waded in to root out the culprits, but the guys took exception to being chucked out and fought back! So the band got taken off to much booing and whistling. They came back on and said that the had been told to say that if we didnt calm down, that would be it and the gig over. And sure enough the fighting continued and the band got hauled off! Gig over! I was unsure what to make of this. Who was right, the management or the punters? Anyone who was fortunate enough to see the Clash knows that trouble happened. I didnt see them but saw Joe when he kicked off solo after the split and anyone who has been to a gig at the barras will know how boisterous things can get and this wasnt anywhere near being like that. Anyone who has not seen The Clash or Joe but has seen Rude Boy will have seen that fighting with bouncers and trouble at Clash gigs in Glasgow goes hand in hand! And having just read Joes biography it is clear that he loved the chaos. But is this how we want to remember him? I'm not condoning what happened but I would take exception at about to being launched down a set of stairs by some bouncer, but it was a tribute and ultimately a charity night, so lets leave the fighting at home and enjoy and remember the music and the man. Hopefully it will be same time, same place next year for the 5th anniversary.
Punks Not Dead!
Reviewed by Ally From Punk and Oi Webscene
Ally - Punk/Oi Website (Jan 3, 2007)