GBH - Reviews - Bedford, Friday September 8th, 2000
Written By: Al Slammer
"My mate Justin and me got to Esquires at about 8:30 after I'd spent most of the day on a bus to Derby and back, right dump Derby. I was totally wiped out already. Trekking around the Derbyshire dales with a group of no hopers from work doesn't put you in a good frame of mind to see GBH. Neither does sitting on a bus for nearly six hours.
'ESQUIRES' club, the local Rock 'n Roll toilet was mobbed by about 30 teenie punks in fresh, circled A' s, and baggies, all trying to get in without tickets as usual, and being shook down by the bouncers for their Pepsi money. The place was deserted but for these little urchins. And lo and behold this kiddie band PEAKNUCKLE go on, and its obvious whom this gang have come to see. Well, full marks for trying, right down to the fake tattoos and berets, but this lot murdered some DK's and Misfits stuff before signing off. Punk by the numbers, but who puts these kids on? Christ even their Mums and Dads were there.
TENDONS next, and they've got two new players, a wall of sound, a bit reminiscent of old ONE WAY SYSTEM. Jon's belly is bigger every time now. Sort of drunk Oi! Music but with good bits, took a lot of photos and called Jelly Jon their vocalist, the biggest tits in Bedford, which is totally true. TENDONS have improved over the years, supporting TEST TUBE BABIES, CASUALTIES, UK SUBS, they're a real laugh and don't take themselves seriously.
GBH hit the stage to patchy support from the crowd, but kept working on it, all those years and miles make for an effortless show, they have started to look older, but still play with a lot of heart and soul, like its their first time all over again.
They still have plenty of go, but they mainly play ancient stuff like 'Timebomb' when they've got some great stuff like 'Transylvanian perfume' (I agree entirely - Nigel !), but didn't go near the later songs. Iggy's ' I feel alright/1970' got a bashing, and I can honestly say it was the best cover of that classic yet. They wouldn't play 'Boston babies' though.
A guy called Paul, I hadn't seen since about 1980 while at school was there, and he was rabbiting on about how the crowd were useless, didn't appreciate GBH. But I guess it was a lot of things, sometimes people just don't want to move their arses. The mob sort of had trouble mixing it up on the dance floor. One of the most ill attended oldie bands I've ever seen there. From 10,000 people in Los Angeles, to maybe 80 in Bedford. Oh well.
Met Colin in the bogs and he said he'd take some stage pictures for me and did, taking some really nice ones. He's a real sport, and the whole band struck me as being a lot more real than say the DAMNED, who are to this day a stuck up group too busy putting on their eye-liner and charging £10 for a 45 minute set than playing a hard show.
GBH are legends, they can still command a good turnout but not in a one watering hole place like Bedford. Considering they were pissed and smoked out of their minds, they amazingly seemed to play without any ill effects. The set list was massive, they drilled it out for at least an hour and a bit, non stop, with old Pedro darting about like a loon trying to fix Col's broken stand which he kept flinging around. Lots of innuendos like 'This next one's for our gay drummer Scott' from Jock, and a big insulting session from Col to the not punk enough bar staff brought a lot of laughs from the crowd. Then, finally, a bit of movement from the usual two foot Mohawk mob, saw the end of the set.
We went downstairs to the disco and after a long time started to get into it when all the other punks invaded the place. We bopped to Breeders, Iggy, Go- Gos, and suddenly found ourselves having a really reasonable time. I didn't even have an excuse not being pissed at the time. Justin nearly got thrown out for opening a fire escape and messing about. All in all it was fun, and the GBH guys minus Colin all turned up and had a party with us.
I spent a good while chatting to Ross about Birmingham, Walsall, mutual friends, bass guitars, the future of Punk etc, he's a real rocker. 2 A.M. finally came round and our 21-hour day was over, well knackered, well watered, and ready to listen to ' No need to panic' that I couldn't find in my tip of a house. Oh well, never mind, next stop, Milton Keynes mega-bash with SLF, DAMNED, SELECTER, X RAY SPEX, and of course, GBH. "
