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Review: 'Anti-Nowhere League, Crashed Out,'
'and Sweeney And the fellas'   

-  Album: 'Live at the 100 Club, Oxford St, London.'
-  Genre: 'Punk/New Wave' -  Release Date: '4.1.20.'

Our Rating:
Welcome to a new decade and what better way to start things off but by going down to the 100 club for one of the shows that forms part of the annual Resolution punk festival and headlined by a band whose singer is lucky to still be with us after Animal was glassed in the mean shopping centre known as the Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells last August, thankfully he has made a good recovery and is back in good voice.

We arrived just as the first band of the evening Sweeney And The Fellas went on, they are apparently normally a 4 piece but one of the guitarist's is apparently currently MIA and the bands normal drummer was also missing so they played as a 3 piece with a different drummer. All of that will matter if you already know the band but if like me you don't, well I'll have to judge them on what we heard.

From the off they sounded like they were bordering on schmindie landfill with a slacker grunge edge to them at times like on At You they reminded me of Pavement although they were a bit more coherent to be honest and on songs like H-bomb it was more sort of Sebadoah meets The Crocketts.

They did keep apologizing for being a man down and not playing there normal set and I think it was The Burning that sounded a bit Sound Garden like, they were doing there best while being close to shambling in parts on the closing tribute to Phil Lynott Vigilante Justice that was a decent end to the set, they might be worth seeing again with a more stable line-up.

Next it was time to welcome Crashed Out back down to London once more from the North East and one of the bands I managed to miss at last year's Rebellion festival and they started as they meant to go on with Fast N Loose roaring out the gate like the first great live band I get to see this decade, it won't be long till the second one comes along but Chris Wright is stalking the stage telling us all that 2020 and Crashed Out are Here To Stay and we're glad that they are.

As Lee Wright does his best to make sure no one calls him an arsehole guitarist as he's standing in front of the Arsehole amp that Tommy H plays in the Anti-Nowhere League and the speedy rush of his guitar as Chris sings about Fighting Against The Odds like they are ready for anything.

Chris got almost everyone in the 100 club to Raise Your Glasses that most of us sang along to while Spin did his best to ignore the stage invaders and carry on hammering his bass and we all Raised Our Glasses once more.

Lee then ripped into Boys Of Summer that Chris refused to sing preferring instead the bands own statement of intent This Is Our Music that may ever so slightly borrow something from Bryan in a one away style and a whole lot punchier.

Chris then too a good look round the room and was upset that he couldn't find that many Fat Punks Who Pogo in the audience so he had to encourage some of the thin London punks to Pogo instead.

They then did The Town That Died that is a potent tale of what happened to Jarrow in the aftermath of the end of coal and an earlier wave of austerity that sadly seems to be far too relevant still. Chris and Lee proved they were still One Of The Boys by Lee playing his solo while being sat on Chris' shoulders.

Cushy Butterfield is the bands very own Whole Lotta Rosie and just as much fun by the sound of this rampage.

They then closed with a couple of well chosen covers the first by a 100 club favorite Alan Price although he never played The Jarrow Song quite like the bootboy moonstomp Crashed out remake it as.

Then a mere 15 days since Vice Squad closed with it Crashed out also close wit a tribute to Uncle Lemmy with a great run through Ace Of Spades that of course everyone one sang along to but I still think I prefer Vice squads version.

The 100 club was rightly packed out for the Anti-Nowhere League to show they can still rock in 2020 and the opening blasts of Snowman with Animal starting to stalk the stage and start asking whose gonna make him while sounding good and menacing.

Nowhere Man blasted any cobwebs left in the place as they started to get more of a pit going and Shady and Tommy H were really hammering at us. But then Animal was getting ready to get his chopper out and to chop of our heads while sounding a lot like Motorhead on London Boys and no it isn't a cover but a proper brawl of their own.

Get Ready sped by like a bunch of hell's angels at full pelt before Animal told us all that I Hate People and everyone in the place sang along with him about how we all Hate People strange how it made most of us smile too still he hates 'em even more when they Break The Law.

It's hard to believe at Animals age that he's still having Wet Dreams but the way Sammy Carnage is propelling them along it won't last long. Yes the band are still Branded and looking round there logo or brand is all over the place as it has been for the last 40 years.

Tommy H took lead vocals on As Good As It Gets with Animal joining in on the chorus with the rest of us. The place went mad for So What not sure anyone wasn't shouting along to it. Animal still Can't Stand Rock & Roll while fronting a great rock & roll band.

We then get into the boasting section of the evening with my Gods Bigger Than Yours that seems to sum up our current times as much as anything. But then telling those who wish to rule us the We Will Not Remember You is just as vital and this was crushing in its pace and delivery it was good to see Animal take a knee at the end of the song I think it was.

Woman just seemed to fly by and then they went all folky on us for Streets Of London to remind us of the evils of homelessness and poverty while everyone sang along at the bands normal crushing pace. Let The Country Feed You kept things topical and burning with a good amount of rage.

But then it was time to party and God Bless Alcohol is as good a start to a party as you can want it had just enough stops and starts and repeats of the chorus to let us know it was time to get Fucked Up & Wasted of course it was and it was also time for curfew but they couldn't leave us without letting us all sing along with them to We Are The League and you'd better remember it too.

This was a great start to my gigging year and I can only hope every gig I see this year is just as much fun as this was.
  author: simonovitch

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