There’s a moment at the end of this gig, during “People Who Died”, when CJ Wildheart’s leap from the drum riser seems to sum the whole evening up. You can see how much these people love this music. More importantly, you can see how much they love the friend they have come here to remember.
That friend is Scott Sorry.
Scott died on 30th October 2025, his 47th birthday. Exactly a year later, some of the finest musicians on the planet gathered at KK’s Steel Mill for Still Kings: The Scott Sorry Memorial Birthday Show.
The last time I saw Scott play was in Birmingham on 20th September 2022, with a couple of the people onstage tonight. More of that later.
Appropriately, the evening began with The Sinatras, revisiting the music they had made with Scott in Sorry And The Sinatras. His absence gave these songs extra weight, as it would throughout the night, but there was plenty of life in them.
“Nothing’s gonna kill ya faster than rock ’n’ roll” was quite the line to start with in “Black And Blue”, with Dave Kerr handling vocals. Billy Liar took over for “Borrowed Time”, before Rich Jones fronted “Valencia”. Written for an EP after their last tour, it had never been played live before. Even on an evening built around memories, there was room for a first.
Acey Slade, of Murderdolls and various other bands, joined for the Ramones’ “My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitburg)”. “There’s more people here from Philadelphia than Wolverhampton,” came the quip, neatly illustrating the friendships that had brought people halfway around the world.
“Hated Heart” supplied the singalong, and the shared voices suited the occasion perfectly. Scott’s songs were being sung by his friends, and that included the people in the crowd. As a way to begin, it felt just about right.
“Tonight’s a celebration of life,” says Jay Butler as Sorry Audio take their turn. A kind of Grand Theft Audio incarnation assembled for one night only, Butler, Ritch Battersby, Rob Lane and Ben Marsden tear into their high energy punk with relish.
Victoria Liedtke and one of Butler’s children join them at various points, making this a family affair in every sense. A version of “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver” is among the highlights, and those guest appearances add to the sense of togetherness.
The Scott Sorry Jukebox is, give or take, Michael Monroe’s band, with Sami Yaffa, Steve Conte, Rich Jones and Karl Rockfist joined by Backyard Babies’ Dregen, who takes his turn singing. It’s quite the collection of talent, and a punk blast through The Replacements’ “Bastards Of Young” makes full use of it.
Hot Water Music’s “Trusty Chords” fits the communal mood perfectly. The Virginmarys’ Ally Dickaty – MV faves – appears for “Shinola”, originally written for Scott, with “an angry motherfucker with an axe to grind” offering the perfect line. There’s affection in every note, and plenty of attitude.
The longest set of the evening belongs to The Scott Sorry Band: 75 glorious minutes that underline just how many wonderful songs he left us. There’s a looseness to proceedings, and occasionally it looks as though the whole thing might fall apart. That rather suits the punk rock at its heart.
“San Jose Sky” was only released in 2024, and takes its place alongside the older favourites. Ally Dickaty returns for “Broken Hearts And 45s”, while Victoria Liedtke and Ben Marsden join to take on “Turning Ashes”. Eric 13, of Sex Slaves, brings out the Hot Water Music side of “Black Dog Dancers”, finding that sweet spot where punk’s urgency meets something altogether more heartfelt.
Victoria returns for “Until All The Pieces Fit”, a song about fatherhood that carries particular weight tonight. Scott left behind three children, and one of them is here. Amid all the noise and celebration, that is a desperately sad reality, and the song needs little embellishment to make its point.
Acey Slade is back for “Rewired”, with a microphone mishap adding to the chaos, while “Give It” is a highlight. Rich “Rags” Ragany turns up for the brilliant “State Of Philadelphia”, another reminder of the strength of the material holding this whole evening together.
There are technical issues, as might be expected with what feels like a million artists changing places. They can’t hide how good “Not Sorry” is, though. Equally, Billy Liar brings the folk out in another brilliant take on “Broken Hearts And 45s”, showing just how much room these songs offer for someone else’s personality.
Then Warner E. Hodges – an actual member of Jason And The Scorchers – goes and steals the show.
“I’m the token old guy,” he says, before they tear into “Sweet Marie”. “White Lies” is casually tossed in too, as though it isn’t one of the finest songs ever written, and Hodges plays with all the joy you could wish for. He has seen AC/DC 108 times, he confides, so his enjoyment of “Riff Raff” is hardly a surprise. That enthusiasm is infectious.
Their set had to end with “When We Were Kings”, with everyone onstage together.
That felt like the end of the evening – so much so that Rags felt the need to remind us there were still two more sets to come. That brings me back to Birmingham in 2022, when Scott had been in the middle of a three-band bill with Grand Theft Audio and CJ Wildheart.
CJ appears first with his band. “We’re the fluffers for five songs,” he announces, before they get stuck into “Kick Down The Walls”.
With regular bassist Leroy unwell, CJ is reunited with his old Jellys bandmate, Wolfsbane’s Jeff Hateley. He’s the perfect man to have alongside him for “Milk ’N’ Honey” and “Lemonade Girl”, and there’s a lovely sense of shared history being enjoyed.
A couple of Honeycrack songs, “Go Away” and “Sitting At Home”, only make you realise again just how good that album was. CJ finishes with “One Of The Boys”, a song he had played to Scott the last time he saw him. Scott’s verdict, apparently, was “pirate punk rock”. That’ll do nicely.
After a short break, CJ introduces Toshi, Jase Edwards, Jay Butler and Victoria Liedtke for the closing set, billed as CJ Wildheart, Ritch Battersby and friends.
You’d expect Wildhearts songs, and there’s an enormous amount of scope in this line-up. Even so, give me a million guesses and I doubt I’d have picked Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” as the opener. It takes us back to “Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One Before Vol. 1”, an album that gets another airing later through Warren Zevon’s “Carmelita”.
Rags fronts “The Revolution Will Be Televised”, before “Carmelita” offers another connection to Scott’s time in the band. Hodges returns for the glorious “I Wanna Go Where The People Go”, as does Dino from CJ’s band.
“It’s been a while since I felt the full power of Ritch Battersby,” CJ says afterwards. You know exactly what he means.
Then Scott’s daughter, Camille, brings her dad’s bass onto the stage. A video brings Scott himself into the performance of “The Only One”, the song he wrote and sang for The Wildhearts’ “Chutzpah!” album. His voice, his song, his daughter carrying his instrument: there is an awful lot contained in that moment.
Everyone is invited back for the aforementioned “People Who Died”, and we arrive at that leap from the drum riser. For all the loss that brought us here, this feels wonderfully life affirming. People have travelled from around the world to celebrate the music of the man who brought them together. Their affection for him is there in every shared microphone and every return to the stage.
On a smaller scale, there’s something of the family atmosphere of Back To The Beginning at Villa Park last year about this. Musicians coming together, playing the songs that connect them, with the person at the heart of it all giving the evening its purpose.
To have been here for this one-off gathering was very special indeed.
