Reviewed onFriday March 11
Hardcore punks White Dog provide a fast and furious start to the night, all primitive drums, breakneck guitar and screamed vocals. They’re a bundle of feral energy and vitriol, with sharp minute-long bursts of coiled up anger and lyrics of personal enmities and dangerous boredom. A follow-up to their rage-fuelled, Black-Flag-inspired EP 452A remains eagerly awaited.
Five-piece Hits! offer a very different brand of punk, harking back to the likes of X and The Gun Club in their expansive, occasionally unhinged approach. Very much local legends in their native Brisbane, Hits! demonstrate their power but also a confessional approach to songwriting that makes for some unexpectedly poignant moments. The yell-along passion of ‘Take Your Pills’ is the highlight.
Buzzcocks are celebrating 40 years since their first release, though most of their legacy rests on an astonishing three-year burst of creativity at the start of their career. In that first three-album run, they absolutely perfected a brand of lovelorn, biting punk-pop, and all these years later, the likes of ‘I Don’t Mind’, ‘Something’s Gone Wrong Again’ and ‘What Do I Get?’ still sound crisp and vital. They’re lapped up by a full house, many of whom would have been teenagers when these songs provided the beating heart of the burgeoning punk movement.
There are a couple of ventures into songs from their second incarnation, like ‘Sick City Sometimes’ and ‘People Are Strange Machines’, combining paranoia with sprightly melodies. Similarly, ‘Boredom’ and ‘Noise Annoys’ make the point that Buzzcocks were always more than a one-idea band, and that krautrock and more experimental sounds were a part of their palette as much as angst and melodic hooks.
The two remaining members from their late ’70s halcyon, Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle, make for an amusing contrast throughout the show, with Diggle’s guitar windmills and cheesy showmanship a foil for the wry and subdued Shelley. They lose Diggle’s guitar amp along the way, giving fans an unwanted glimpse of what deathless classics ‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ and ‘Orgasm Addict’ sound like without that signature buzzsaw guitar. Even in stripped-down form, however, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that nobody has ever done this stuff better than Buzzcocks.
