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| RED SIRIUS
Empire Belfast 23.3.06 This gig went from one extreme to the other and back again. I was so pissed off at the Buzzcocks apparent pop star pretentions at one point that I was going to slate them in this review (tee hee - PDC). I was angry but they managed to redeem themselves, more of that later. Cheers to big "Dee" for looking after us as always. Local boys Red Sirius were already in full flow when we arrived after a few bevies in the Metro bar across from the Empire. They're a very talented band. Good musicians with good noisey songs, big drums and a violin! The bands style is similar to that of "the Killers" but with "Paul Wellers" gruff vocals. They're due to release their debut CD with a launch gig here on I think the 17th April? So if your into that alternative pop sound then this could be the band for you. Definitely a band to watch for in the future. What happened to the advertised support bands Gear and the Adored? Not that I know who the hell they are?!! Buzzcocks came on early and powered through a 26 song set. Five new songs from the 'Flat Pack Philosophy' LP opened the show and they were very good. It was hard to spot the join between the old classics and the newer material, which was a good sign. With a recorded history full of porky prime cuts like the Buzzcocks back catalogue, it was inevitable a few favourites were going to have to be sacrificed to make way for the new, or we could have been here all night! The set was jam packed with old friends, and they never lose their sheen no matter how many times you hear them. 'Autonomy' was dedicated to Joe Strummer by Diggle who claimed it was Joe's favourite Buzzcocks song. The punk "Lennon and McCartney ", messers Diggle and Shelley sure know how to knock together a pop punk song full of melody and hooks, which is a rare comodity. Although there was a little help from a certain "Mr Trafford" in the early days. Shelley still does his onstage I'm so bored routine while Diggle lives out his rock star fantasies throwing guitar hero shapes and interacting with the crowd. The gig was a good one and after a rousing version of 'Boredom' (Berdum Berdum) the band exited the stage leaving the audience well satisfied. We sneaked backstage after the show and met up with a few other punk pals who had already made it past the security. We were outside the Buzzcocks dressing room door and the fuckers were ignoring us and wouldn't come out. We sat there for a while getting more and more fed up at the snub, so much for old style punk attitude and solidarity. There was only five of us waiting there. A few autographs and we would have left them to get on with whatever they were doing, but they were doing the pop star bit and wouldn't come out. My pal "Facer" knocked the dressing room door politely and opened it slightly and was about to speak when some cunt pushed it closed from behind. So after a few shouts of "dickheads", "wankers" and some other mild abuse from us which I'm sure they heard, we all left well pissed off! Their chief roadie was also a bit of an ignorant pratt. We asked for a few bits of memorabilia for the punk collections, but this old fat specky tosser wouldn't have given you the skin of his pish. A couple of the lads went to the nearby chippy and I parked the car at the stage door to see if they would come out. While we were eating our fish & chips in the car the Buzzcocks came out of the venue and we were ready to give them some real verbals for the breakdown (excuse the pun) of punk etiquitte earlier, but they were as friendly as could be and were willing to chat and sign autographs. So what was all the nasty ignorant shit upstairs at the dressing room about? They signed a couple of local press photos for me and were all interested to see the feature as they obviously had never read it. Diggle had clearly enjoyed a few drinks and was carrying a bottle of wine as if his life depended on it. Shelley was tiny but contrary to his dour image was chatty. I asked him about the recent London Selfridges gig and exhibition from a couple of weeks back, and he just looked bemused and said "the gig was good"!! I think the reply speaks for itself. As Pete was leaving I said to him "it's hard to believe its been thirty years" and he nodded his head and smiled. At this point another mate "Bubs" who was steaming drunk started jumping all over them grabbing them by the arms and shouting in a friendly way, getting in their faces as drunk men sometimes do. I think he panicked them as they all rushed to to get in the van to escape. I'm glad it all ended on a good vibe as I would have been badly dissapointed to have went home hating them after being a fan for 30 years and some fucker in the hall stole my setlist as well! Joe Donnelly Belfast 24/3/06 |
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