This tour is part of Ferocious Dog's tour to promote their excellent recent album The Hope that is as well worth hearing as this show was well worth seeing.
We got in in time to see main support act Abjoudaparov who are of course named after the terror of Tashkent and one of the wildest cyclists ever Djamolidine Abdoujaparov who retired after being banned for positive drug tests in the late 1990's. Abjoudaparov the band are the project of Les 'Fruitbat' Carter from Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, which means it's now over 30 years since I first saw Les as the main support act, that time opening for Pauline Murray & The Storm at The Marquee on Charing Cross Road back in the days when he played a ghetto Blaster rather than a guitar.
They opened with the Abjoudaparov theme song and tried to get everyone chanting his name, which about a third of the audience seemed ready to attempt, the rest of us were still trying to work out how to pronounce the name, as the current 4-piece line up or as the bands website puts it the 75th line up so far clicked into gear.
It's All About The Oil, George is a good ranting anti war song about dear old George W Bush and his disastrous war mongering in Iraq and Afghanistan, that saw the first of several super spiky guitar solos to help get us going.
They did a good angry rant of a song about the Brixton Flippin' Riots that saw some riotous interplay between Les and the lead guitarist. They had enough chutzpah to actually play a cover of a song by headliners Ferocious Dog as they did a good bouncy and spiky version of I think it was Criminal Justice.
There's a Monster In My Garden had some good sardonic lyrics and yet another cracker of a guitar solo. Emergency Medical Hologram was greeted like one of the bands hits by the crowd and went down a treat as it got its message across.
They closed with Fish Face that was wry and as concise and spiky as everything else they played, a lot of fun and well worth seeing.
After the break a reasonably packed Garage welcomed Ferocious Dog as they opened with the bands cover of the traditional folk song Haul Away Joe that would have featured an accordion solo but there were a few technical issues that left Sam Wood trying to get his gear working as the gig got fully underway and Pentrich Rising got us in a good Celtic revolutionary spirit despite the issues.
Ken Bonsall was soon singing about all the Victims who need someone to fight for them and this band often sound like they are issuing a rallying battle cry to try to heal any broken Soldiers they come across and the righteous fury they feel for the politicians who think nothing of starting wars.
The Instrumental Lee's Tune was one of the first ones to feature a cool banjo solo from Sam Wood whose issues were now behind him as the band were going at it full throttle. Ken then told us how he supports the work of the Sea Shepherds in trying to clean up our oceans while pointing to his Sea Shepherd T-shirt as this frantic shanty got going.
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Lacey Lee was a rampant mandolin led hoe down about a one-way ticket to despair and the fight you'll need to be saved. They told us part of the tale of Freeborn John and his role in the English Civil War and his fight for freedom of expression and what are now called human rights seems as relevant as ever sadly. Ken then sang about being forced to put your Hands On The Wall as if your being frisked to a great violin solo from Dan Booth.
Ken made a few choice comments about what instruments are and aren't punk before they played a properly angry version of Punk Rock Police.
Lyla was a rather poignant song of remembrance for a fallen friend. That I think was followed by the impassioned roar of Slayed The Traveller that was a tribute to the hard bitten life and often terrible treatment the travelling community has to deal with.
By now we all had a good thirst on, so it was time to raise our glasses for Parting Glass as Ken saluted us one and all while wearing the Red Ken hat someone in the audience had gifted him earlier. But as is always the way with Ferocious Dog's we soon had the Hell Hounds on our trail.
Not sure what they closed the set with but it was obviously more than enough for them to get a well deserved encore that opened with a penny Whistle solo from Sam Wood on Spin as Ken asked if we could have a new regime and get rid of the rotten ruling classes.
They then played a rather monumental version of The Hope that sounded like it was designed to bring us all together in time for one big group hug that ken organized getting everyone to hold hands and link arms before everyone slow danced for the rest of the song.
For Gallows Justice they got a circle pit going that was a decent effort if not totally mad. Before they closed the show with Slow Motion Suicide with its lyrics enough to bring a tear to the eye at the end of a very impressive set. I hope to see them again in the summer at the Rebellion Festival where they are playing on the new stage on the seafront.
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