After having a drink and a chat with some punters, Charlie Harper took to the stage with a couple of cans and kicked off with new song ‘Hell Is Other People’. The upstairs room was already rammed and like a sweatbox and, as expected, it didn’t take long for the moshpit to get started and spread throughout the whole front of the stage. Having sneaked a look at the set list, the numbers that the Subs made their name with are at the end but all the songs played throughout bare the hallmark of the classic Subs sound. Jet Storm did a sterling job on guitar with standard punk-rock block-chords, enhanced with dazzling solos.
‘This Chaos’ was the result of a song begun several years ago as a collaboration with former Sub, Lars Frederiksen. After about forty minutes, the big guns came out with ‘Tomorrow’s Girls’ followed in quick succession by ‘Teenage’, ‘Warhead’ and ‘Stranglehold’. For a man in his sixties, Charlie displayed great energy as he bounced around the stage and thrust his mic in the direction of the fans clamouring to sing along. As if the hits weren’t enough, they came back for a rousing encore following shouts of “One more song,” bringing Charlie back onstage with the answer “How about 10 more songs?” We didn’t get ten but we did get a shirtless Jet sawing out ‘C.I.D.’, ‘I Live In A Car’ and ‘New York State Police’. They may not have the fame and panache of the Pistols or The Clash but as they ended with ‘Disease’ they showed they can more than hold their own and their place in punk history is assured.
UK Subs
The Hydrant
Saturday 27 November 2010
Words & Photos by Steve Clements
