Whether tonight's crowd turned out because they love to hear punk songs played on folk instruments, or just because they really loved The Young Ones — I suspect the latter, but you never know — they're in for a great show.
Fronted by erstwhile comedian Adrian Edmondson (best known for the aforementioned Young Ones, Bottom and The Comic Strip, and for being Mr Jennifer Saunders), accompanied by Andy Dinan on the fiddle and Troy Donockley on the uillean pipes and bouzouki (they're just making these words up now, aren't they?), the UK group makes a hell of a Celtic racket for a three-piece.
The thematic link between folk and punk shouldn't need to be explained to anyone (the link between folk and Krautrock is less obvious, but their cover of Kraftwerk's 'The Model' is one of the set's highlights — go figure). The world has no shortage of Frank Turners, people who have roots in both genres, and yet there's still a distinct novelty to the arrangements of these songs. I don't mean 'novelty' as a dirty word here, either, and I certainly don't mean to imply they treat the gig as a gag — just that their approach is novel in the sense that it feels unique.
The songs tend to succeed or fail depending on the strength of the lyrics, which makes sense, because the whole point of the exercise is to place those lyrics in a new context; to prove that, hey, these songs are deeper than you thought — so, when they're not, the group can't help but stumble a little.
Opener 'Anarchy In The UK', for example, doesn't really work; the lyrics amounting to little more than a superficial pseudo-political diatribe (one that even its author doesn't actually believe in) without those power chords. 'Rise', on the other hand — also written by John Lydon, with a chorus derived from an Irish blessing — couldn't be more perfect.
'I Fought The Law' goes down a treat (if someone told me it was a traditional folk song, I'd believe them), after which Edmondson warns the crowd: "I hope that applause was genuine, because that's what we'll be doing all fucking night." The applause was real, of course, and it keeps up all night, through a selection of covers from their first two albums and a few previews of their third.
Edmondson is in fine form throughout, not just as a bandleader — they may not be the tightest band in the world tonight, but they well and truly get the job done — but also as a frontman, regaling us with tales of hearing Status Quo's Coles jingle for the first time ("there's exploitation, and then there's sucking the devil's cock") and of receiving harsh career advice from his dad.
(During the latter story, a particularly annoying heckler continues to interrupt, prompting Edmondson to give them the lashing you wish everybody in that situation would: "You're fucking annoying, aren't you? Shut. The Fuck. Up.")
The show peaks with a stretch that includes 'London Calling', 'Making Plans For Nigel' and a brilliant reading of Talking Heads' 'Once In A Lifetime'. The band leaves the stage for a few moments and promptly returns for a hoedown of an encore, highlighted by their cover of 'White Riot' (another Clash classic that, to nobody's surprise, works just as well as a folk number).
When the figurative curtain finally comes down after an hour and a half of barnstorming tunes, there's no doubt that everyone in attendance has thoroughly enjoyed themselves. This extends to the band members themselves, who are positively beaming (I wouldn't be surprised if the heckler loved it, too).
Here's hoping they bring on that third record soon, and that Australia won't have to wait another 30 or so years for Edmondson to grace our shores again.
