The Vibrators, Poetic Justice & Ill Fate, Fuel Rock Club, Cardiff
Fuel was always going to be busy tonight. Both Rugby and football have conspired to pack out nearly every pun in the Capital. On top of that though, the band topping the bill tonight have a small yet hardcore fanbase. The Vibrators narrowly missed out on being considered a seminal punk rock act, along with the Clash and the Sex Pistols. Nevertheless, Stiff Little Fingers took their name from a Vibrators song, and their first two records – Pure Mania and V2 – have been named by such outlets as NME and MOJO, as being among the best punk albums of all time. They are well supported as well. Both Ill Fate and Poetic Justice are well attended and exceed in their showmanship skills.
Of course, Ill Fate (7) have the hardest task of the night, in being the opening act. Nevertheless, they are greeted by a warm reception, even if everyone has yet to flow into the back room. Sound wise, they have a style reminiscent of early pop punk and ska acts, perhaps in the vein of NOFX or Operation Ivy. Lyrics adopt a tongue in cheek attitude – ‘’your band has 100 Facebook likes, and your band thinks that matters’’ – while fast-paced guitar riffs are offset by frenetic soloing, and exciting tempo changes. Throughout their set, frontman and bassist, Rhys, urges the audience members to step closer to the stage and has the courtesy to allocate the crowd designated drinks breaks. They close their set, having made everyone watching feel elated and enthusiastic for the next two acts!
Poetic Justice (8) play to an already packed out room. All the better for them, as they seem to feed off audience interaction. They certainly make their set time count, displaying remarkable energy and constantly getting the audience to sing their socially conscious poems back at them! Band members bounce playful jibes off each other, and off crowd members. Their manifesto: You aren’t allowed to not have fun! Equally as entertaining as the performance, anthems lurch from moments of mellow reggae to raucous freneticism. Lyrically, everything is subtly political, yet far from being preachy or cliche, we are treated to humorously performed stories, each of them, carrying a message! As Poetic Justice depart the stage, everyone is suitably warmed up for the headliners!
Now a three-piece, The Vibrators (8) sound just as powerful as they always have. Spurred on by an enthused audience, they charge through a comparatively long set of catchy, memorable punk rock anthems. Expectantly, most of the set consists of cuts from their first two albums, including Baby Baby, Wrecked On You, I Need A Slave and of course, Automatic Lover. More than one of these provoke loud and powerful singalongs, even from people like me, who despite not knowing many of the lyrics, are inspired by the beguiling and likable nature of the tunes on display. Surprisingly, they even throw in a couple of unexpected and different covers into the setlist, namely, Have Love, Will Travel ("oh look, its that song from the car insurance advert") by Richard Berry, and Sound Of The Suburbs by The Monkees. The only apparent pitfall is the set is that the three musicians make so much noise that the monitors occasionally cut out the vocals. At one point, lead singer, Pete Honkamaki, has to ask me to crouch next to the speaker in front of me, and tell him whether he was coming through or not (He was). Minor quibbles aside though, this was a fun show. It’s actually impressive how our headliners have managed to keep going for so long. Despite their declining success, they still sound raw and energetic!
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