The Stranglers performing their March On 2015 Tour at Rock City Nottingham on Tuesday 24th March 2015.


 

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

Any artists with careers spanning over four decades, can be excused for putting their feet up, but not so The Stranglers. On the back of a successful Ruby Anniversary Tour, these 70’s punk icons are still not only on the scene, but they continue to tour year in year out with as much verve and passion as ever before.

With Jean-Jacques Burnell and Baz Warne leading from the front, a packed Rock City crowd erupted at the first chords of opener Longships, and never stood still again until the end of a two hour set, which delivered material from almost all of their 17 studio albums together with recent numbers from their latest offering, Giants.

Drummer Jet Black was regularly derided for being ancient when The Stranglers first hit the charts in the 1970’s, but decades on he is still there, well almost; he missed this show due to his poor health. But Jim MacAulay did a sterling job whilst Dave Greenfield was outstanding on keyboards. Not known for having much to say, JJ left the banter to the affable northerner, Baz Warne, who joined the band a decade and a half ago. In all, it was a tight knit unit that delivered a 26 song set.

There were also a few less karate kicks from JJ, but these days fewer members of the audience want to take a pop at the martial arts expert.

It was the music that did the talking as a mixed audience pogoed in unison to rare outings such as I’ve Been Wild, Four Horsemen and Relentless, whilst the decidedly mellow Golden Brown got one of the biggest cheers of the night. The old favourites, (Get A) Grip (On Yourself), Always The Sun, Skin Deep and Duchess were all delivered with the energy of twenty year olds.

Coming back for the first encore; Peaches with its thunderous bass line was as good as when the original author sang it, and with a second encore providing a stunning version of No More Heroes, there is no doubt that these aging punk rockers can still entertain.