It was great to see The Stranglers in Guildford last night. However I can\u2019t help feeling the whole show had an element of the surreal to it. Almost like an out of body experience\u2026.<\/p>\n
Starting at the beginning:<\/p>\n
The venue itself with its angled staircase down to the bar from street level made me feel rather tipsy and I hadn\u2019t dropped a touch! Also, I noticed that the super clean toilets didn\u2019t seem to have any urinals. Then when I pointed an inquisitive punter in the direction of the Gents he went off in that direction and retorted in a rather disgruntled manner \u2018That\u2019s the Ladies!\u2019 Oops!<\/p>\n
Moving swiftly on, the sound was great in there last night! Support act The Godfathers made a good impression and really made an effort to get the crowd going. To paraphrase singer Peter Coyne \u201cI hope you\u2019re getting warmer, we\u2019re the warm up act for The Stranglers and if you lot don\u2019t warm up they\u2019re going to duff us up!\u201d And a valiant attempt was made by them to avoid a beating with their hard edged R&B.<\/p>\n
On to the MIB, nice to see two drum kits, Jet Black in the house! The light show rolled fast-forward through the years indicating the 39 year lifespan of the band, to the delightful weirdness that is \u2018Waltzinblack\u2019. The band walked on and JJ fired up the intro of \u2018Toiler on The Sea\u2019. Sounding great so far! Next up the classic \u2018Goodbye Toulouse\u2019 followed swiftly by \u2018Grip\u2019. All seeming fine\u2026 But wait!<\/p>\n
Whilst the sound was fantastic the band seemed a little unsettled. The crowd was friendly but it must be said it was one of the tamest crowds I\u2019ve ever witnessed for the MiB! May be due to the fact that there were a lot of families right down at the front with a mixture of the really young and the really rather senior. It seemed like the band may have misread this gentle audience as being unenthusiastic. After \u2018Golden Brown\u2019 Baz directly asked the crowd \u201cAre you enjoying yourselves? Thank god for that!?\u201d Clearly Baz and JJ were really putting a great effort into stimulating a response. This kind of cross purposes seemed to carry on for the whole gig with the two frontmen putting everything into it, seemingly to little avail. Unawares that the crowd were lapping it up!<\/p>\n
To add to the surreal mix JJ was looking a little tired (to the point of seeming a little spaced out!) But he really held it together with faultless playing (bass solo to \u2018Genetix\u2019 outstanding, pure genius!). And it didn\u2019t deter him from being very frothy and playful in his taunting of the crowd. At the end of the show he went over to Baz and rested his head on his shoulder, as if they were consoling one another.<\/p>\n
Back to the show: The set was really great, dropping some of the staples that fans expect to hear like \u2018Hanging around\u2019 for example and adding in some vintage classics such as \u2018Bring on The Nubiles\u2019, which for me was the highlight of the evening with its swift tight execution.<\/p>\n
The newer songs were well received with \u2018Mercury Rising\u2019 receiving a healthy cheer as it was announced. \u2018Freedom is Insane\u2019 sounded rather psychedelic in there last night, brilliant! And Baz sung his heart out on \u2018Norfolk Coast\u2019 really doing the song justice. Relentless held its own as a classic of the modern era.<\/p>\n
We were treated to \u2018Midnight Summer Dream\/European Female\u2019 both sounding really great. \u2018Lost Control\u2019 was notable by its absence.<\/p>\n
The light show was really good, although apparently it\u2019s been toned down a little. Jim did a grand job on the drums considering the boots he has to fill. The crowd really didn\u2019t seem to get it when Jet Black came on. Although I\u2019d put that down to the mix of people in there. The master seemed as great as ever and was absorbed with the job at hand. His drumming for \u2018Who Wants The World\u2019 was full steam ahead! At the end of the show he peered over the top of his toms and gave us a grin and a wave, cool!<\/p>\n
The ever grinning Dave was well on form, his keys sounded great and he was in fine voice for \u2018Genetix\u2019.<\/p>\n
All in all a great night, lovely to meet lots of fellow fans in black and witness this most unique and brilliant band put in a great performance.
\nAs for the surreal, maybe it\u2019s something they put in the water in Guildford!<\/p>\n
Here is Genetix…
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