Sex Pistols & Frank Carter Nottingham Rock City 20/09/24
While at last all the fuss about Oasis reforming has died down we all know the Sex Pistols playing again is THE music news and a band who ACTUALLY revolutionised music and whose influence still reverberates. Even (modest) Noel Gallagher says that after hearing Never Mind The Bollocks album it was game over and how could you beat that?
The Sex Pistols were Messrs. Cook, Jones, Matlock and Rotten (ok, and Sid a bit as well). Three of the boys are on a jaunt playing smaller shows, but controversially (in some eyes) with singer Frank Carter (Gallows, Pure Love & Rattlesnakes) and bill themselves as such by the way. This show was at the fantastic Rock City, Nottingham.
Mathew and Issey Carts
Prior to the Sex Pistols, The Molotovs had warmed the crowd with their uptempo mod/punk hi-energy hi-impact show with guitarist and bassist (siblings Mathew and Issey Carts) each never standing still. In particular, the way Issey wielded and played that Rickenbacker was amazing. She reminded me very much of Gem from The Killjoys in her style of playing and skill. I think Lemmy would also have been very approving.
So why a very good-looking visually and sonically appealing trio hasn’t been signed yet is a mystery to me and the only thing I can think of is what market a record company would look to pitch them to. That said if they keep doing what they are doing, they will build a fanbase from the grassroots and as everyone knows that is a powerful thing.
The stage is set up all in dayglo colours from the backdrop to Jones’s amps and speakers. And the stage is set up for the band….So what do you get? While visually you get three guys all knocking on the door of seventy and all that entails (plus one live wire young ‘un) sonically, and this is critical, they sound like it’s 1976/1977. I was lucky enough to spend the first two songs in the photo pit two feet from the band and boy was it a righteous wall of controlled power.
The unspoken bit here is Lydon/Rotten, because the edge the Pistols had was his presence, lyrics and vocal delivery. Tonight you get one of those (lyrics) plus another live wire no-holds-barred singer. And that singer was Frank who clearly can’t believe he had this gig playing with the band. He sings his heart out, doesn’t try and copy Lydon’s vocal inflections, ad-libs some lyrics, establishes a rapport with the audience immediately and of course ends up doing a song right in the middle of the audience and finishes being held aloft in the crowd. In other words, as Jonesy exclaims mid-set “Frankie done good!”
Matlock (mustache, goatee and cravat? WTF, Lol) and Cook are rock solid. Jonesy is simply awesome. The playing isn’t flash but that was never the point. It was the tunes and the riffs and the simplicity of direct sound he extracts from a Gibson and amp. By mid set Jones had warmed up and some of those old mannerisms came into play. I love the way he does that feet together and bent forward arse stuck out and wiggling while staring straight ahead delivering a riff or solo. I know of no other guitarist who does that. He is quite simply a guitar hero.
You’re my guitar hero!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Songwise you’ll know the drill but a couple of surprises like just how good Silly Thing sounds live and their version of My Way. But the star of the show, and god knows I’ve heard it a million times, was the show closer Anarchy In The UK delivered with all the subtlety of a Ukrainian anti-tank missile that turned into a mass crowd singalong.
And the audience? Getting on in years but still a mixture of ages but a different vibe to gigs of yore. This wasn’t the violent, amphetamine, edgy menace of a seventies gig complete with solid pint glasses, darts and punches being thrown plus showers of spit. This was a hero’s welcome and a raucous crowd singing along to every word determined to have fun. They may only dust down Bollocks very now and again but you gotta treasure it.
As we shuffled out en masse into the Nottingham night air, I heard a young kid say to his mate “That was amazing. Best night out I’ve had in ages”. Can’t argue with that!
TalkPunk
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