The Undertones return to Brighton as part of their long-awaited, re-scheduled UK wide tour. Early birds will be rewarded with a support slot from Hugh Cornwell, former frontman of The Stranglers, another fine act to emerge from the musical anarchy of the late ’70s.
By comparison to other street subcultures, punk rock, by its very nature of being anti-establishment, was always destined to be more fleeting than most once it hit the mainstream. The Undertones avoided being one-minute wonders by straddling the punk/new wave transition perfectly, belting out a stream of angst-ridden, infectiously powerfully paced hits. They wrote honest songs about real life problems: crushes, friendships and jealousy, relevant issues for each subsequent generation thus ensuring that the songs remain timeless.
The late great John Peel famously championed ‘Teenage Kicks’, released by Belfast’s Good Vibrations label in 1978. The band’s live set will no doubt include this and other well cherished hits such as ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, ‘Here Comes The Summer’ and ‘My Perfect Cousin’ which contains these inspired lyrics: “He always beat me at Subbuteo, ‘cause he flicked to kick, and I didn’t know”.
Although the original line-up disbanded in 1983, the band reformed in 1999 with a new dynamic frontman in Paul McLoone. Two new albums have been recorded with this rebooted line-up, ‘Get What You Need’ and ‘Dig Yourself Deep’. In essence these releases still have the spirit of the band’s fast-paced hooks but with added new maturity, so the later songs will sit perfectly with the classics. ‘Dig What You Need’, a remix compilation of this later work, has just been released to coincide with the tour. For one night only, we can all be teenagers again.
Chalk, Thursday 17th March 2022
Tickets available here
