MySpace
myspace music my music  featured playlists  top artists  music videos  karaoke  shows  forums 

STREET VOICE NEWS - KEEPING REAL MUSIC ALIVE

blogs.myspace.com/streetvoiceuk
MySpace.com | rss | sign in
Street Voice UK Music Magazine



Last Updated: 2/9/2010

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Status: Single
City: Margate
State: South
Country: UK
Signup Date: 7/26/2005
Friday, April 24, 2009 
Spirit Of 77 Festival - 17th + 18th April - Live At The Westcoast - Margate

Friday 17th April Line Up:

Boomtown Rats
Hollywood Suicide
The Episode
The Sketch

 Friday was a bit of a weird day for me as I'd spent most of it in bed ill as I did on the Thurday too!
 
Eventually after much sleep I found some energy after downing enough painkillers and medicine to drug an army!! One I got me head together I headed to the venue where everything was already set up and it was just a case of waiting for the support bands to do their stuff.

First up were The Sketch who despite having a few technical problems managed to pull a reasonable set from what I heard from the ticket box! I missed some of their set as I crashed out over the till!!

Next up were The Episode who are Tamworth's answer to the Enemy and from what I head they gave a decent account of themselves and in doing so earned themselves a slot on saturday's bill.
 

 


I managed to pull myself together my favourite band of the night Hollywood Suicide who are a band that really do deserve to be much bigger than they are. Their sound which fuses elements of Punk and Rockabilly is cool as fuck! Joining them on stage for one song was Titch from Psychobilly legends the 'Klingonz'.

Once Hollywood Suicide had left the stage my health started dramatically deteriating and I only caught a couple of Boomtown Rats numbers before I headed off home to bed.
 

 


From what I saw the musicianship was of a high standard but it wasn't really The Boomtown Rats. They were about as interesting as the average rock covers band you'd find in your local. The spirit of punk rock was missing from these guys. From what I was told after things didn't improve and it just looked like they were going through the motions by playing numerous Boomtown Rats and Dr Feelgood covers!

Still when everyone was watching the band I was tucked up in bed once we'd managed to pull Gaz out of it and chucked him in the spare room!


Saturday 18th April Line Up:

Angelic Upstarts
The Warriors
The Black Marias
Condition:Dead
 The Episode
 Challenge The Chess Club
 The Submission
 
Saturday morning I was up early as Gaz Stoker (Angelic Upstarts) and I had a radio interview at KMFM in Thanet. Thanks to Pete Barnett for arranging that for us. That was pretty good despite the short time we had and Gaz had a hangover while I was going downhill with the flu. We even managed to get 'Woman In Disguise' played on the radio too!

Once more beer was consumed it was time to head down the venue for the Angelic Upstarts to set their gear up and sound check. After much running about and the Cable Street Beat/Anti Fascist Action banner was up it was time to open the doors.


 


Come 5pm The Submission opened up the day with a great punk rock set. This four-piece from Deal were one of the better bands of the weekend and gave a bloody good account of themselves. It's just a shame more people didn't come in early to watch this young band play as they showed what a great little unit they are.

Next up were Challenge The Chess Club. They gave a decent acount of themselves but really do need to work on their stage presence. They need to move about much more and look as if they really are enjoying themselves.

The Episode were on next and left Vince the stage manager feeling very impressed. He said they're a band to watch out for and from what I caught of them I agree. A modern day band with great stage presence and a wicked sound to boot!
 

 


Condition:Dead are an Anarcho band from London and from what I saw they did OK despite the problems they had with the guitarist with his strings breaking and been slightly pissed!! Too much drinking with Dickie Hammon from the Upstarts was to blame for that. Still what I saw was ok and every band has their off day but hey that's punk rock!
 

 


Next up were the Black Marias who really do need to be checked out. This Street Punk band gave a great account of themselves and the people who saw them really liked what they heard. Hopefully I'll get these guys back later on in the year. Top band.

 
 


I didn't expect the Warriors to play this show as they had so many travel problems getting back from Germany and they really did look shagged out! Like troopers they got on stage and tore the place apart with their set. Once they were in full flow their was no stopping them and certainly deserved their position on the bill. If more bands played with the conviction Saxby, Dave, Russ and Chris did on the night then this scene would be much healthier. They certainly got everyone going for the Upstarts.
 

 


Come 10.15pm it was time for legendary Punk band the Angelic Upstarts to hit the stage and they did so with style. Most of their set consisted of the old favourites like 'Teeange Warning', 'Solidarity', 'Leave Me Alone' but their were also newer songs like the Anti-Nazi anthem 'Anti Nazi'. Dickie at times made the odd mistake but the rest of the band were on top form. Mensi delivered every song with conviction as well as dishing out plenty of banter. The band finished up with a 'England' and looking at the audience everyone was lapping it up. Top set from a brilliant band who have a strong message. The Angelic Upstarts are legends.


 


After drinking a few and chatting to various people I really had to hit the sack and left the venue begore most. I even had a taxi home for the second night running as I was just too ill to even contemplating the usual trek home!

The weekend didn't finish there and carried on right through to when everyone woke up and much beer, wuine and tequila was supped and it wasn't even 9am!!

Despite feeling like the walking dead I enjoyed the weekend on most part and would I do it again?!! Nope! Too much really but I'll certainly be back with some more Punk Rock nights later on in the year!!
 
A huge thank you to everyone who made it happen from the bands to the sound engineers/stage manager to the bar staff to the security and more importantly the audience.
 
CHEERS!
 

11:39
 
Print
Previous Post: Fairport Convention Live Margate - Saturday 2nd May | Back to Blog List | Next Post: Iona Leigh Interviewed - April 09