To be honest, unless you’d looked online, it is unlikely that you would have said Glen Matlock was going to play a cover of “Constant Craving” from K.D Lang, but as he points out: “my sets are something old, something new, something bluesy and something borrowed.” Across his 45 minutes here, Matlock and his band make good on all of those things. Much of it comes from last year’s “Consequences Coming” record, with the title track and “Magic Carpet Ride” – which deals with the confusion of the modern world – particularly impressive. He has though, a rather extensive back catalogue to choose from, and Rich Kids’ “Burning Sounds” is delved into. His choice of covers, does not just extend to Lang and he plays Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation” calling it “one of the most influential punk songs of all time”, and of course there is the matter of that other band. As they play “Pretty Vacant” MV is moved to wonder just how many records in our collection, have resulted directly from the opening riff. While we’re thinking about that Matlock has moved onto another new one “Head On A Stick”. As he ends here, you are left to reflect on a life in music, and the man that had arrived on stage combing his hair, still has that effortless cool.
Just after halfway here, Stiff Little Fingers play “Empty Sky”. A song, says Jake Burns, which is written by drummer Steve Grantley. He followed this up by adding that he doesn’t write many “but when he does they sound like Motörhead”. That is interesting in itself, given that like clockwork SLF appear on our stages in March, just as Lemmy and the boys used to do in November.
The choice of “…Sky”, however, reveals a couple of things: it tells you they’ve changed things up this time (there is no “My Dark Places” in 2024 which had been a staple previously) but it also makes you realise that whatever they play, it is wonderful.
They arrived on stage, as they often do with “Suspect Device” and for the next hour and 20 minutes. It is a master class on why, they remain so vital today.
After “State Of Emergency” and “Fly The Flag” prove that when it comes to British politics the more things change the more they stay the same, they play a new song. This is not just any new song, “Hate Has No Home Here” is the name of the tour, but also, dare we say, the ethos of the band. The inclusion, the welcoming, the warmth, the idea that music is just a melting pot of ideas and cultures, is all the way through this, right down to the melody on this one.
Perhaps underlined best by the wonderful cover of “Love Of The Common People” restored to its reggae roots. It is just one of a number of tunes, that SLF have dusted off here for the first time in a while. “Last Train From The Wasteland” is both the highlight and moment of hope, while “Get A Life” (“I’ve changed the key so I can sing it now” jokes Burns who as always cuts an avuncular figure on stage) is a welcome return.
They have never hidden their love for The Clash and “Strummerville” is euphoric, and the closing triumvirate “Nobody’s Hero”, “Tin Soldiers” and “Gotta Getaway” simply put, is as good an end to a concert as there will be anywhere this year.
The Specials are remembered with “Doesn’t Make It Alright” before the usual rip-roaring “Alternative Ulster” end things.
Burns had remarked, more than once that he gets fed up of saying “I wrote this 40 years ago” but that rather misses the point. These songs now are as vital as when they were made.
On Twitter this week, someone had put a picture of a blue plaque in Bangor Northern Ireland, which simply said: “Alternative Ulster – the birth place of Irish punk.” Someone had commented, “lose the Irish.” And it is impossible to disagree.
I will not claim to be a lifer. I was 3 1/2 years old when their debut album came out, rather precluding me from an opinion at that point. However, I know when I’m watching the best at something and every single year, when they come back in the spring, Stiff Little Fingers prove time and time again, they are quite simply just that. The best punk rock band there’s ever been.
