Project Description
STIFF LITTLE FINGERS
“The Ignition Tour 2020″
Governor Hindmarsh Hotel
16/2/20
(Live Review)
Reviewer: Caine RexEverything
Photos – Colin Reid
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The original UK punk phenomenon was a rebellion against society’s class system and shitty standards of living. In-your-face, brash and scary to the older generations, those early punks rallied against being oppressed and poor. Being bored. Being overlooked and ignored. All fair reasons to rebel, sure, but after a few songs on similar theme it threatened to come across a little snotty and childish.
Belfast boys Stiff Little Fingers did similar, but with one important difference: most of their songs were set in the middle of the Troubles at their worst. This gave them a unique edge over their contemporaries. When they sang about bad upbringings and poor living conditions amidst mentions of IRA bombings, it made them sound dangerous. When they sang against being enlisted to fight for defence forces, they were talking about terrorist organisations. When they sang about suspect devices, they weren’t doing it to be shocking, they were talking about what they saw every day.
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Because of this, debut album ‘Inflammable Material’ remains an evocative time capsule of a horrendous instance in modern western civilisation. It’s a snapshot of the Troubles, frozen in time; a rallying cry against the violence inherent in the years of warfare. It’s a vicious condemnation from the mouths of the kids born into it and unwillingly thrust into parochial warfare based on sovereignty and religion. It’s proper rebellion, proper revolt against real injustice and real inhumanity. It’s also proper fucking kickass punk rock.
The album hasn’t aged a day, even if that conflict is consigned to history. A frenetic and razor sharp classic that rattles along at remarkable speed and is ridden throughout by the cacophonous bark of frontman Jake Burns. Every song fizzles and explodes like a homemade bomb, every sentence sneered with the sincerity of a youth sick to the teeth of the bullshit put upon them by their divided superiors.
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It’s my favourite punk album of all time by some signifiant margin. Even though Stiff Little Fingers evolved beyond punk on subsequent albums, their first is still by far their best and it’s why they graced the Gov Sunday night. Celebrating the (slightly belated) 40th anniversary of their debut masterwork could’ve easily been a nostalgic wander down memory lane, but if you know the Fingers, you know they don’t do anything half measure. The band have aged, but their rawness and stage presence hasn’t diminished one bit. Forty decades of tearing new arseholes into audiences has made them a quality live act and for those of us in the crowd, including original punks and Irish expats, they did not disappoint.
Of course, they didn’t. How could they be anything less than astonishing to a packed room full of hardcore fans? It was an hour-long incendiary display of original, classic punk unhindered by pretentiousness or superficial obnoxiousness. With the birthday album acting as centrepiece to a set peppered with assorted tracks from their career, the Fingers relished in the energy from the crowd and played up for our benefit.
Burns in particular was full of good humour, regularly breaking between songs to regale us with amusing and self-deprecating tales of their youths. It added a fun, welcoming vibe to the show and removed the division between band and fans. It was more like a bunch of good old sorts getting together for a drink and a sing-song.
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A selection of fantastic early tracks like “Nobody’s Hero”, “Safe As Houses” and “At The Edge” sent a buzz through the crowd. New track “16 Shots” proved Burns still has an eye for current affairs in his adopted Chicago neighbourhood, referencing the unprovoked 2014 police murder of teenager Laquan McDonald.
Then it was into the main event. Hearing those incredible tracks come alive after so many years listening to them on CD, LP and online made it increasingly hard to keep composed. Every song crackled with vitality like it was 1979 all over again and we were watching the band play some filthy rundown West Belfast hall. It didn’t matter how old the band or the fans might’ve been, as soon as that breakneck riff intro to album opener “Suspect Device” everyone went absolutely bonkers.
“They take away our freedom in the name of liberty – Why can’t they all just clear off? Why can’t they let us be?
They make us feel indebted for saving us from hell – And then they put us through it – it’s time the bastards fell”
Forty years since the lyrics were contemporary and relevant, yet with Burns’ vocals losing none of their edge, they transported us all back to the barbed wire and bombs of Belfast back then. “State Of Emergency” and “Here We Are Nowhere” got a father and his two young adult sons joining in a jovial mosh beside me. I wanted to join but decided to let them have their moment together.
Nothing stopped me with “Wasted Life”, though. I worked my way into the main action for my favourite Fingers tune. That was it for me, no going back. I spent the rest of the set in the thick of it, barking every word to beloved doo-wop “Barbed Wire Love”, “Breakout”, “Law And Order” and closer “Alternative Ulster”.
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A short encore of two songs from 1980’s ‘Nobody’s Heroes’ – “Tin Soldiers” and “Gotta Getaway” – and with that, the band took their bow and left. An hour felt like fifteen minutes and honestly, despite the exhilaration of the performance, I was left with a slight sense of disappointment. Most of that was from not hearing timeless Fingers classic “Fly The Flag”, but it was also because the concert had ended so soon. It’d be naive of me to presume a group of middle aged men could play their famous brand of fast-paced punk for any longer than they did, but it was a shame they didn’t because they were fucking amazing. Better than most punk bands half their age.
Stiff Little Fingers might be the greatest punk band of all time. There, I said it. It’s out there in the universe and nobody can deny the contention. There’s been plenty of punk bands more popular, more notorious, or more celebrated. But how many have inhabited all the traits which being punk are known for while living in actual, genuine war zones? How many are still together? How many haven’t sold out, or lost their edge, or become half-speed novelty acts unable to match their youthful energy?
Forty years of plying their trade across the world, setting stages alight with their inflammable material and if you close your eyes, it’s as if nothing had changed.
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Check out Colin Reid’s gallery of this show HERE
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Check out STIFF LITTLE FINGERS below
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Welcome back Caine, you’ve been gone far too long. This review is another cracker, we’re introduced to STIFF LITTLE FINGERS prior to the show. Given an in depth intro into how the band was formed 40 years ago and then into the show. It was like I was there, bouncing and jostling and wanting to sing along but not knowing the lyrics. That has since been remedied but if it came to a sing a long I would still be lacking, I just don’t have the memory Caine obviously has. Once more Caine has described the concert through his eyes and has passed on his feelings to me/us the readers. Damn I wish I could have been there with him and STIFF LITTLE FINGERS, brilliant review, wee done. Amplify give us more of this reviewers look into the music and the ‘event’.