The Buzzcocks. Triumph, Travesty or Tragedy, all in a night’s work
This wasn’t a tragedy in the true sense of the word, nobody died, but there was a travesty in Manchester on Saturday night. There may have been some big sporting events on elsewhere in the city, yes there were other gigs happening too, but all of those in the know, knew where to be seen. Tragedy that the venue wasn’t full to the rafters, tragedy that the support bands (Gabrielle’s Wish, Marion and The Members) failed to deliver to their full potential and a tragedy that the original band members weren’t here, in their home city; but as long as Shelley and Diggle are on the stage, who cares about Chris and Danny, even though they have been in the band as long standing members, (and Devoto, because if Howard had stayed, we would never have experienced the delights of ‘Secondhand Daylight’!) but all in all, the main event was an undoubted triumph.
From the opening chords of their debut single ‘Boredom’ from the ‘Spiral Scratch’ e.p. the audience were taken on a potent, lipstick punk journey to ecstasy. This was a non-stop barrage of classics: Fast Cars, I don’t mind, Autonomy, Fiction Romance, People are strange machines, Whatever happened to, Girl from a chain store, Sick city sometimes, Nothing left, Pulsebeat, Noise annoys, It’s not you, You say you don’t love me, Promises, Love you more, What do I get, Harmony in my head, Ever Fallen in love and Orgasm addict.
Steve Diggle’s facial expressions seem to say that he can’t believe this is still happening, the kind of joy you see on a child’s face on Christmas day morning, complete with hand signals and covert winks to familiars in the audience. Pete Shelley, with a bushy beard, still camps it up like nobody else - Shelley is and always will be a throw-back to the heady days of punk, pomp and self-importance.
And in a flash, it was all over until next time. The king’s of three-minute guitar-riff driven punk rock had done it again.
‘I get it now.... they are a guitar band’ said one guy on the way out. Oh yes, they are that, but much more. In fact, if you think you like music, but don’t like the Buzzcocks, you don’t like music. It’s that simple.
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