Pop Will Eat Itself are the band that I have seen live more than any other. There is good reason for this. When people bang on about an ' X Factor', I take it they are talking about what PWEI have in abundance (certainly more than some dodgy karaoke singer that won the programme of the same name - and hopefully that Steve bloke has done all his worrying of the charts that he will ever do!). The best way that I can describe The Poppies is as a sort of pre-cursor to The Prodigy. But they were also so much more than that. An integral part of the evolution of modern music they were the first band to use samplers live. A band who were not afraid to experiment from an indie sound through dance fusion to industrial rock, each album was different, yet each one was musically exciting. But there downfall was that each album was years ahead of it's time (not that, that bothered me!). Eight years ago they played their last gig and during that eight years, on many a drunken occasion, I mentioned how much I missed them. When the Reformation Tour was announced, you would never see a bigger grin on any face than the one that was spread across my Ugly, oh yeah , mug (kick a hole in that speaker!).
I met my friend Paul at the Home Tavern in Eastleigh and got the train to London. A funny part of the journey up was that we were on one of the new trains and when Paul used the toilet on said train, instead of pressing the shut door button he pressed the emergency button and ended up having an embarrassed conversation with the driver. We had a few beers at The Hole In The Wall and The Wellington at Waterloo before heading to Shepherds Bush. If Mr Wetherspoon is reading any chance of some sort of commision as Paul and I went to the one at Shepherds Bush were a few more beers were consumed along with an excellent mixed grill - I seem to be mentioning Wetherspoon Pubs in my reviews quite a lot!
We eventually got into the venue as one support band finished. Soon afterwards another one was on stage. I know not who they were and nor do I really care to be honest. All I was interested in was the main course. So what would they be like? Would the Poppies now be unrecogniseable both in looks and sound to the Poppies from way back when (well I knew three of them wouldn't look too different as they were part of Bentley Rhythm Ace - a band that I had seen a quite a lot in the time between the Poppies last gig and now, but what of Graham and Clint?)? The lights went out and Fun Boy Three's The Lunatics are Taking Over The Asylum started playing. This then went into the intro track of PWEI vs The Moral
Majority (basically a speech by Jimmy Swaggart, the disgraced TV evangalist, talking about Rock'n'Roll being the work of Satan with a few PWEI samples in the background) and then the boys were on stage. Sure Clint looked a bit bigger but who doesn't. It's lucky I had baggy T-shirts back in the day or none of my Poppies T-shirts would fit me now! Graham, had not aged a jot, the git!!!
"Perverts on your knees for what your about to receive" - the opening lyrics to "Preaching
To The Perverted". And I was truly grateful for what I was about to receive. From these words
onwards, a celebration of all things PWEI. "Wise Up! Sucker", "Kick To
Kill", "Can U Dig It?" all sounding as good as the first time I had heard the songs.
I must mention that the lighting was fantastic, and yet so typically PWEI, with a metal frame surrounding
blue light bulbs lighting slogans such as ' reformation' and ' PWEI on patrol' providing the backdrop,
and plenty of strobes and things going off at the front of the stage. Clint and Graham both commanded the
stage with all the authority and energy of the good old days. Richard (guitars and bass)and Fuzz (drums)
combining as well as ever and making sure the songs had a (not too much!) discipline to them and
revelation of the night, Adam (keyboards and guitars) looked very much slimmer than the last time I had
seen him and was having a right old knees up (he always used to be the almost shrinking violet of the band!).
I have to say that Pop Will Eat Itself's version of "Their Law" is better than The Prodigy's (as much as I
am a fan of The Prodge, it is not painful for me to say this!) and so it was again tonight. The main part
of the set finished on Bulletproof. Is everybody happy. Oh yes.
The encore started with Graham giving Fuzz a rest and taking drum duties for a run through of a couple of
the really early songs, "Runaround", "Orgone Accumulator" and "Sweet Sweet
Pie" and then "Attention Young Ladies, Attention Young Ladies!" The Poppies
did "Beaver Patrol". I hadn't seen them play this one since 1989! And it didn't stop
there. "Def Con One", "Dance of the Mad Bastards" (that'll be me!), "Urban
Futuristic" and finally "Karmadrome". After an hour and a half of the best live band
there is IMHO, it was all over, signalled by the theme tune of "Whatever Happened To The Likely
Lads". My ears ringing and my legs aching from the jumping about, but I felt ecstatic. The
band looked very much like they were having a blast throughout the set as well and they had another
night of this madness to go, having now played four of the five date tour.
In the news last week there was an item saying that some boffins had come up with a formula stating that
January 24th is the most depressing day of the year. Apart from thinking that I can't believe that people
get paid for this sort of nonsense, it has to be said that they obviously did not have tickets for Pop
Will Eat Itself on this night and that was probably why the boffins were depressed. All I know is that
I couldn't have been happier. I really hope that there will be a few more opportunities to see this
band again, perhaps with some new material. I shall certainly be keeping an eye out on the pweination
website
Sorted
Ric
