Putting On The Ritz
Stiff Little Fingers return to Manchester on their 'Up A Gear' tour and they come out of the blocks in fine form. What never ceases to impress me about SLF is the enthusiasm they put into their performance, despite the fact that they've been doing this for 35 years now! The current line-up has been together for seven years now with three of the four together for seventeen years (and of course original bassist McMordie served nine years in his first residency with the band). The upshot of this being that they are a very tight unit and in many ways the music seems almost effortless but what that allows is the freedom to play to the crowd, something that front man Burns and McMordie do throughout.
There's no pausing for breath as they kick off with a pretty awesome opening trio of At The Edge, Wasted Life and Roots Radicals Rockers and Reggae. It gets the crowd going straight away and the pit at the front is just as up for it as the band seem to be. Predictably there is a more muted reaction to the first of the new songs aired Trail Of Tears and I'll admit to being slightly nervous every time SLF unveil a new track as it can be a bit hit and miss. I'm undecided on this one on the strength of one hearing, it sounded OK but time will tell whether it's a grower or not.
The problem with new SLF songs is that they have to sit alongside the old classics and when they play Nobody's Hero straight after there's no competition really. It's good to hear Hope Street again and Burns introduces Liars Club as another new song by saying they've played it live a few times... try pretty much every tour for the last six years! It still remains unreleased but that's set to change with the release of the long awaited follow up to Guitar & Drum later this year. This is followed by Strummerville, which has become something of a modern day classic for the band.
I can't think of anywhere else except football matches where you can just let go and shout/sing along to your hearts content and at a SLF gig you know you're going to get plenty of opportunities. Listen is fantastic tonight with pretty much everyone in the crowd shouting along with the chorus. It's followed by another new one in the form of My Dark Places, which shows some promise but from there on in it's familiar turf all the way. Doesn't Make It Alright, Harp, Fly The Flag, Barbed Wire Love, Fade Away, an absolutely blistering Straw Dogs and Suspect Device bring the set to a close.
There's a welcome surprise in the encore as they turn in a great version of The Ruts classic Staring At The Rude Boys followed by Tin Soldier and what else but Alternative Ulster to round it all off. I've seen SLF many, many times and tonight's performance is right up with the best; the band are clearly enjoying the tour and their performance proves that despite the undoubted loyalty of their fans, they never take it for granted, which of course is part of why the fans keep on coming back. We hope the new album lands on our desk sometime this year and we hope it lives up to its excellent predecessor Guitar & Drum but for the meantime, you can always rely on SLF live, they just don't have it in them to do a bad show.