DUB PISTOLS & SPACEHOPPER
When I first signed up to see this (much delayed and rescheduled) show, the main reason was because Millie Manders & The Shut Up were due to support. Two years on and MMATSU have been replaced by local ravers SPACEHOPPER.
Mainman Chris (synth, live mixing) is centre-stage in dayglo trackie top and hat. To his right, guitarist Phil or Philomena dresses like Tony (Gen X, Sigue Sigue Sputnik) James in his Sisters of Mercy days. Stage left, there’s Darren on bass and live percussion from Gos whilst the Great Lorenzo shakes his maracas and dances in a silver boiler suit, sombrero & life jacket. With sampled vocals, the music indie-rave, reminding me of Shaman, Pop Will Eat Itself circa-Cure For Sanity and a touch of Guy Called Gerald. It gets the audience dancing, is visually entertaining and sounds great for the first ten minutes but, for me, it gets repetitious. Yeah, I know that is kinda the point of this stuff and Spacehopper are decent enough at what they do but a bit of variety wouldn’t go amiss.
For the last quarter of a century, Barry Ashworth has been the sole constant and leader of dub-hip-hop-reggae- 2Tone-punk legends DUB PISTOLS. Decent on record, Dub Pistols are an absolute party machine live. Ashworth and co-vocalist Seanie T rip up the stage, constantly invoking the crowd to jump, Jump! JUMP!! Guitarist John King stands stage right, cool as heck and given more prominence in the live sound than in the studio. Drummer Joshua Thomas and newest recruit Pistol Pete York provide the booty shaking low end, with York covering almost as much stage as the vocalists. Trying to keep track of what was being played over the high energy 90 minute set was next to impossible and, being a casual listener rather than an obsessive fan, I didn’t recognise most of the songs well enough to note down the titles anyway.
As always with Epic, the sound was spot-on and the light show was fantastic. Big shout out too for the new state-of-the-art ventilation system that makes the venue as Covid safe as possible. The only downer on an otherwise great night was the prick who took exception at my being masked. To be honest, I am not convinced that the pandemic is anywhere near over and I’m wearing my mask to protect both myself and those around me. Anyone who doesn’t like it can, frankly, kiss my ass.
