Here's a report I received from a friend of a friend who was at the Ruts show this past Monday in London. Click the link for photos. (Thanks Med & Steve!):
Here's a report I did for the Forum and a link to some photos...
Photos linked here.
Hope you are all well - off to The Fall on Friday ..!
Cheers
Steve
Well, it was an amazing night - very emotional of course as Paul Fox looked very frail but it was so uplifting and his guitar was out of this world! Such a real shame about the tragedy surrounding The Ruts as they should and could have been one of the greatest bands to come out of Punk.
The gig was sold out and it was a great party atmosphere - lots of old Punks turned out to play songs and celebrate - Tony Barber from Buzzcocks, one of The Blockheads, members of Bad Manners and other Ska bands - John Otway was hilarious then came Tenpole Tudor who of course did the classic "Swords of a Thousand Men", TV Smith from The Adverts was excellent - "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" sounded so great.
Splodgenessabounds played, but that was the only low bit - U.K. Subs played some of their superb early classics like "CID", "Tomorrow's Girls", "Stranglehold", "Warhead" and "Emotional Blackmail" then The Damned stormed through "New Rose", "Neat Neat Neat", "Love Song" "Smash It Up" and more. Misty in Roots came on and played some of their great icy reggae and reminded everyone how they and The Ruts used to tour together for the Rock Against Racism cause.
Tom Robinson and TV Smith did a couple of songs and then the main event - The Ruts back on stage together for the first time in so many years with a very happy Henry Rollins taking over on vocals. Rollins was excellent too - he did a great job and he sang really well and it wasn't long before you stopped comparing and thinking about how good a singer Malcolm Owen was.
They did all the classic songs that should be up there with other classics from the Clash and the Pistols - "Babylon's Burning", "Staring at the Rude Boys", "SUS", "In a Rut", "Jah War" and more. It was a good cause too and Paul Fox looked so pleased with the reaction and warmth - a superb guitarist.
Our friend Martin, who also attended, has a nice write up on it here. He also provided us with the setlist:
Something That I Said
Staring At The Rude Boys
S.U.S
West One (Shine On Me)
Jah War
Babylon's Burning
Society
In A Rut
3 comments:
isn't this a spirituality blog - i should say so. i love that ruts drummer so much... happy henry rollins - who knew there would be such a thing... horay for henry. Job well done.
Damn this sounds great.. wish I could have been there! I don't imagine anyone knows if they might be considering a one off gig in NYC or something?
I've been a fan ever since the first time I walked into 99 Records as a 14 or 15 year old hick from Wilkes Barre PA, to buy (with my vast paper route earnings, natch) the "Too Many Creeps" and "Going Underground" 7"'s. The amazingly cute older women behind the counter (she might have been 18 or even 20!)had just put on the "Staring at the Rude Boys" 7" and I was HOOKED. I mean, it seemed like the record grooves could *barely* contain that blast. Well, you all know what I'm talking about.
Best to all involved,
Tony Thomas
Thanks for the comments Daisy & Tony.
Daisy - you're right. I should add it in the spirituality category.
Tony - I identify 110% with that experience you describe. The store, the singles, the Ruts, the girl...those were certainly the days. Do we know each other?
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