This gig was in Alan Clayton's new hometown, since he moved from Shepherds Bush down to the south coast, it took place in a cool pub just within the city walls.
The first band on The Targets may end up needing to change their name as there are at least two other bands of the same name around.
They were a very young duo for over half the set, as apparently the bass player failed to show up for the gig.
They opened with Soho City Nights a good rocking song with the singer Caden immediately reminding me of Michael J Fox in Back to The Future, although sans the life preserver, this was a song for all those nights of losing the plot in Soho, being sung by someone who looked too young to have really spent too much time in Soho up to no good.
They then played a nifty instrumental that had a bit of a Rumble feel to it, the drummer was fluidly driving it on, while Caden did his best to sound like Link Wray, while playing without any pedals, to give him the reverb and wah wah that much of the set lacked.
Don't Give it Away was a good song warning about the perils of young lust and where they can lead.
Can't Get Enough Of You kept them in the punky rock and roll pocket hoping for more action, both of them looked like they were having a blast. They then covered Born To Lose playing it pretty straight in The Heartbreakers vein and nailed it like that, but of course for old blokes like me, that can remember seeing Johnny Thunders shoot up at the side of the stage before playing the song, while making his guitar wail and cry, this really needed some wah wah on it, but still great to hear this version.
We then got the first of I think 3 covers of songs by Portsmouth's own Garage rockers Emptifish, with the rather catchy 395 BBK that they followed with Manta Ray that was also an Emptifish song and reminded me more of the British band called Manta Ray rather than the Spanish one.
Electricity certainly crackled along and they then added Bass, with the help of a young Chichester based Deadhead for the rest of the set, Tear it Up had a fuller sound, that certainly helped them rock a good bit harder. It Wasn't Me is the exactly the sort of song of denial that worked well as a garage rocker.
Do the Surfboard was the last of the Emptifish tunes they played, it had none of the Zegema beach sound, but had it been covered in Fuzz would have been a good Psychobilly blaster. They closed with a good speedy version of Johnny B Goode that only re-enforced the first impression of Caden as having a bit of the Michael J Fox to his playing and it certainly left us smiling.
After the break it was time for us to see The Dirty Strangers once more, surprisingly they had the same line up as the last time we saw them, with Lol Fox on drums, Cliff Wright on Bass, John Rollason on Guitar and of course the inimitable Alan Clayton on Guitar and vocals.
Having spent the day walking along the beach between the Witterings it seemed spot on that they opened with Bathing Belles and that the dancefloor filled with ladies, most of whom were happily singing along to the chorus. Here She Comes strutted across the room like a woman on a mission, looking for a boyfriend, that had a nifty solo from John Rollason, just before Cliff's bass dropped out and he had to switch to a very 80's looking back up bass, that gave him a funky edge for the rest of the set.
Liberty Smile had a good cheeky grin to it as Alan managed to photo bomb some of the pics being taken on the dancefloor, while he carried on playing and singing. Special Girl could have been dedicated to most of the women on the dancefloor at that point, everyone seemed to be having a great time.
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I loved John's solo on Who Blew The Whistle, brilliantly economical with nothing wasted as we looked around for who might have let the cat out of the bag. Alan then asked us all Are You Satisfied? A question I think we all knew the right answer too, as Cliff's bass seemed to get a bit funkier against Lol's as ever rock-solid drums.
This crowd were certainly Easy To Please, just keep playing great rock and roll job done. Alan had a cheeky grin on his face for most of Troublemaker almost as if he was singing his own story, as if he could ever have been accused of such a thing. Alan dedicated Baby to Alistair Symons memory, as it was one of the songs, he wrote for the bands first album. They romped through it.
Alan then told us he'd written the next song in the kitchen at one of the women on the dancefloor's dad's house, of course he meant Keith Richards as they then played Real Botticelli that was just as cheeky as it ought to be. A Cold Night was the opposite of the weather and sounded good and hot.
Hunter's Moon is one of the bands new songs from there next album that I've now heard live a couple of times and is sounding tighter and like a future classic. Alan claimed that South Of The River now refers to The Arundel as they are almost as far south of the Thames as you can get without ending up in the Channel. Oh Yeah! Was I think the second of the new songs and was easy, almost ready for us all to sing along to it once we've heard it a few times.
As usual Diamonds was the slowest song of the set, so you could wipe those Diamonds away with them. Before playing Pirates Don't Get Pensions Alan thanked his wife Jackie for all her support over the years, as his career certainly didn't come with a pension plan. It did come with some sparkling guitar interplay between John And Alan. Lots of us ended up with our Hands up during the song of that name that was a proper rave up.
I think we could have had a competition for the best Bad Girls at this gig and there were a good few Bad Girls singing along with them. My favorite of the new songs was next as Alan sung My Girls A Getaway Driver I was wondering what kind of heist they were pulling together, I want to hear this again to hear all the lyrics properly.
Shepherds Bush City Limits sounded positively exotic when played in sleepy Chichester. It wouldn't be a Dirty Strangers set if they didn't find a guest musician to join them, and this time it was Adam on mouth organ for a souped up run through Gold Cortina that had most of the audience singing the chorus.
The band then made sure that this gig had been nothing but a House Party with everyone having a great time singing and dancing along with them as they brought another great set to a close with some Good Good Loving to make sure we all know The Dirty Strangers are all about having a good time and loving what they are doing as much as we all love hearing and seeing them play.
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