Ever had that nagging feeling of deja vu? W&H certainly have. We last saw Stiff Little Fingers putting on a truly incendiary show at Dublin's Temple Bar Music Centre two years back and a tanked-up BLOOD OR WHISKEY were also the support that night.
Tonight, though, BOW have a problem. During the Temple Bar show, they had the luxury of a well-oiled, up for it crowd willing to lose any remaining inhibitions to their rabble-rousing, Levellers-style, battering ram Punk rock sound. Here, though, they're shoehorned into a 9 o'clock slot with most of the punters still only beginning to saunter in off the street they're playing to an empty dancefloor.
Still, it's a credit to them that they pummel through their set like good 'uns regardless, with the initial polite applause gradually intensifying and even a couple of fine Mohawks finally succumbing to the urge to pogo (yes, really) towards the end of their high-octane set.
BOW are something of a confusing visual spectacle. Banjo player Townsend's Mohawk has been shorn since the 2007 gigs and curly-haired drummer Chris looks as though he should be playing with Dodgy, yet together BOW make a blistering, anthemic noise and once you've consumed several pints of Snakebite, songs like 'Poxy Pub (In My Neighbourhood)' will seem like the three steps to heaven you'll wonder why you never ascended before. Sure, they suffer the sort of horrible, pneumatic mix that's often the lot of the support band, but that's showbiz and they play their way out of trouble like the pros they surely are.
Although the house is considerably fuller by the time STIFF LITTLE FINGERS make an appearance, the crowd still seem relatively sedate when compared with the white-hot, radio rental crowd W&H were confronted by in Dublin. There again, it's some years since SLF last blitzed through Cork, but while it's a staggering 32 years since they formed in Troubles-torn Belfast, they continue to fight the flab of history and – despite Jake's quietly advancing waistline – sound as lean and hungry as ever.
The 2007 gigs were historic affairs in that SLF were playing their influential debut album 'Inflammable Material' in its' entirety (well, alright, minus its' black sheep 'Closed Groove') and the moshpit was no place for the faint-hearted as a result. Tonight, it's more of an evenly-paced, greatest hits affair with a few well-chosen deviations off the beaten track to keep the long-term fans happy, but it's no less enjoyable for all that.
As always, the positivity of SLF'S stance is impressive. A hard-edged 'Roots, Radicals, Rockers & Reggae' kicks the chocks away and it's followed by a box fresh version of under-rated 'Now Then' album track 'Is That What You Fought The War For?' with Steve Grantley's drumming already beginning to sound totally Godlike.
SLF are finally at work on the long-anticipated follow-up to 2003's acclaimed 'Guitar & Drum' album, and we're treated to a couple of promising cuts from it early on. 'The Liars Club' is Jake's pointed Bush and Blair commentary and he introduces it by saying his wife wondered whether “the song would have a sell-by date” since the coming of Messrs. Brown and Obama. As he accurately comments, though, “we're still cleaning up the mess those bastards left behind”, and the song itself rides a razor sharp riff and sports a mean chorus. It's not let down by tonight's other new tune, 'One Mile Island', either: another beefy and intelligent anthem which is anything but dwarfed by the familiar knockout punches of 'At The Edge' and the Simon Cowell-baiting 'Guitar & Drum' it's sandwiched between.
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Crucially, it's obvious that SLF still enjoy this to the max. Burns remains the consummate raconteur centre stage and his guitar playing is always an under-rated glory to behold. Ian MacCallum plays the rhythm guitar and second vocal foil in a low-key, but crucial manner, getting into the spotlight for a burly 'Can't Get Away With That'. Steve Grantley is simply a powerhouse and returning hero, bassist Ali McMordie, sports a ridiculously youthful physique, a ripped 'Feck' T-shirt and a permanent Cheshire cat grin. There again, he has bagged one of the best jobs in rock'n'roll all over again, so who can blame him?
So strong is the SLF back catalogue that they can afford to thunder through 'Barbed Wire Love' and a nuclear strength 'Suspect Device' long before the main set winds down. They've still got some dark horses like 'Bits of Kids' in reserve and a poppy and muscle-bound 'Just Fade Away' and a valedictory 'Tin Soldiers' finally take us to the tape. Well, except that they're soon back for an extended, tense and dubby 'Johnny Was' and the inevitable 'Alternative Ulster' which continues to sound merely days old whatever changes may have taken place at Stormont in the meantime.
It's always a tough one for 'reformed' bands to carve out credible new niches for themselves and Stiff Little Fingers have had their slings and arrows to suffer along the way. However, like The Stranglers and Buzzcocks, they remain relevant, potent and forward-looking three decades on. If you've long since ruled them out on ridiculous ageist grounds, well it really is your loss, I'm afraid.
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