The law of “everything that can go wrong will go wrong” absolutely applies to Scarlet Rebels tonight. Singer Wayne Doyle is battling a cold, and somehow manages to sneeze right in the middle of the heartfelt “It Was Beautiful.” As if that wasn’t enough, guitarist Chris Jones is wrestling with what we’ll politely call “strap problems.” Jeremy Beadle would have been waiting for them as they came offstage.
And yet here’s the upside: if Scarlet Rebels are this good when they’re running at half power, imagine what they’ll be like firing on all cylinders when the new album drops next year.
Because once they hit “Secret Drug” and “Take You Home,” none of the setbacks matter. “Grace,” with all its glorious Bon Jovi-isms, soars. “These Days,” “Streets Of Fire,” “You Take My Breath Away” — these are really phenomenal songs. No wonder they stepped up with a top-20 album last time out, building a growing fanbase that’s happily inducted into the Rebel Club for good.
They’ve got more in common with arena-leaning rock bands like Stereophonics than you might think, and “Declining,” with its mental-health themes, feels like catharsis in musical form. Before closing with “Let Me In,” they promise they’ll be back with that new record next year — and on tonight’s evidence, it’ll be some sight when they’re running hot.
There’s a moment when Whitfield Crane arrives for “Neighbor,” and you realise that for over 30 years Ugly Kid Joe have been doing pretty much this. “Jesus Rode A Harley,” “Panhandlin’ Prince,” “Goddamn Devil”: royal songs from a top-drawer band, and they all land exactly as they should.
But it’s more than that. It feels like a party you’re invited to — their kind of party. More than once Whitfield Crane tells the crowd, “I love music. I need music,” and you believe every word.
Before “Kill the Pain” he talks about the fabric of the song from the recent record, and later, during “Cat’s in the Cradle,” he dedicates it to a young girl in the crowd. “I’m Alright” has everyone jumping, before “C.U.S.T.” brings a bit of rap-rock swagger that Faith No More might have nodded at.
Crane is an interesting frontman — funny, self-aware, blasting out asides to the crowd, but never losing the song. There’s always a sense of fun: Chris Catalyst is with them as one of the two Englishmen in the band, and when they dig up a tune from the area, given what they could have chosen, it feels like a delicious in-joke everyone’s in on. (He calls it “that Christmas crap by Slade,” and everyone howls.)
“No One Survives” sees Crane orchestrating the room again, before “Devil’s Paradise” lifts it higher still. “That Ain’t Livin’” — still surely the best song AC/DC never wrote — sounds even bigger in this packed live setting, and “Milkman’s Son” gets arms raised across the room.
After “Failure” they would normally have gone off for an encore, but they don’t do encores. However, with the crowd chanting “Ozzy, Ozzy,” they launch into “Paranoid,” follow it with their usual “Ace of Spades,” and then finish with the one they’ve probably played at every show for decades: “Everything About You.”
Yes, it’s daft. Yes, it’s dumb. But it’s also a really, really good song — the one you heard 33 years ago and the one that still makes this room lose its mind.
Ugly Kid Joe are a superb live band. It would be easy to dismiss them as rock ’n’ roll frat boys, but there’s more to them than that. Crane talks about loving sports teams growing up, the camaraderie, the banter, the sense of belonging — and he’s built his own heavy-metal sports team here.
It’s always fun. For the band and for the crowd. And tonight, it’s exactly that.
