The INFADELS kick started this evening off with a rather superb set - Whoa there boy they’re FILTHY! With dirty, gritty guitars, a vocalist who sounded like Frank Black, and the entire band being as tight as a gnat’s proverbials.
Their songs were littered with raunchy lyrics and interesting breathing noises: “Get your dirty light on, you dirty BITCH, but I love you…”, general sentiments that conveyed the desperation of a sex starved teenager, rather than anything derogatory. Easy tiger.
The Infidels, nice band, they sound a bit like the Pixies (never a bad thing), and they really do rock. Unfortunately, in terms of lyrics, they tended to focus on break-ups etc, which is a bit on the pansy side. Oh well.
In stark contrast, on thundered the truly magnificent LIVING THINGS, with their blend of highly politicised glam rock and punk. This band are notorious for their controversial performances, with antics such as the ripping up, burning and pissing on pictures of George Bush, and Lillian (vox) actually being shot at after a gig on one occasion. Not that we got much of that in this performance, sadly. But they still knocked my socks off.
There they were in all their glory: young, beautiful, and angry. Lillian has all the onstage presence of a young Mick Jagger, looking like Marc Bolan, and sounding fucking amazing. It was hard to tear your eyes away from him.
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They were in a different league to the previous band, the merciless bass lines, heavy drums, and the band simply morphing into one huge fuming noise. Their set was one acid-spitting glam-punk number after another, steam rolling their way over the heads of the audience. Their new single, “Bom Bom Bom” is very T-Rex, very sexy, and very leathery. They’re like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, but (my word) with a point! Without wanting to sound clichéd, this band really are a tour de force, they are desperately iconic, and they’re songs are intelligent, poignant, and infectiously catchy.
I might have been cynical at the start, but I'm convinced that the Living Things are the real deal. They’ve got a great message - that is, Fuck the System and start paying attention to world events - I genuinely hope that people will sit up and take notice.
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