TOP LEFT CLUB – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 15.10.22
Having legged it in the fine rain from the PVA instore performance at Resident in Kensington Gardens (Review HERE), I literally made it into the Concorde 2 with just seconds to spare before Brighton’s finest shellsuited combo TOP LEFT CLUB were let loose as the support act to Nirvana UK. I’m only here to witness TOP LEFT CLUB as I have an imminent appointment with a Mr R. Ashcroft in the Brighton Centre, but clearly the Concorde 2 headliners tonight were bowled over by the fans in attendance, as after the gig they posted “Massive thanks to the amazing crowd at the Concorde 2 in Brighton last night. Makes the journey so worth it!! Big thanks to Black Rabbit Productions for having us!!”.
I can indeed confirm that the audience were “well up for it” as they say. Even for TOP LEFT CLUB, the venue was more than two-thirds full, which was pleasing to see. The atmosphere was great and those all around me at the front of the venue (and indeed those behind me) were seriously encouraging the quartet, not that they needed it. Sadly our photographer was bed bound at the last minute, so sorry about the pix.
TOP LEFT CLUB features both members of SKiNNY MiLK, namely Johnny Hart on bass and vocals with Tim Cox on drums and from Young Francis Hi Fi. completing the lineup are MacDaddy on guitar plus Jimi Dymond on lead vocals and Yamaha Reface DX keys, and together they perfectly show how vintage style punk rock should be delivered. This was my third encounter with the band and they are seriously entrenched in my ‘Top Five Brighton Based Bands’, and show no sign of dropping anywhere below that for the foreseeable future!
Tonight, their set lasted 28 minutes from 7:30pm on the dot to 7:58pm. During that time they offloaded no less than 14 tunes, if you count the ‘Intro Jam’, so that’s exactly on average, two minutes per tune…..Yep!….They ARE the UK’s answer to the Ramones! So it will come as no surprise that I snapped up their debut album ‘Shoulders At 90’ when I first saw them a year ago. This can be found on their Bandcamp page HERE. I understood back then, that the second platter was in the can and just needed to be mixed, well bloody hell guys, let’s have it then!!!
Here is a band that seriously needs to be seen by the masses, especially at the annual Rebellion Punk Festival that is held in Blackpool each year. It’s the mecca of punk and the biggest punk gathering that these shores have to offer and TOP LEFT CLUB rightly deserves to be sharing the stage with the more established punk acts. Those in attendance will immediately be taken aback as TOP LEFT CLUB don’t stride on stage in their studied leather jackets, split t-shirts and torn blue jeans, this lot wear shell suits as a total juxtaposition to their heavy sound. They are purveyors of a sound that up until now had only been heard on recorded punk vinyl up until February 1977. Their ‘sound’ seriously reminds me of The Heartbreakers, early Damned (especially Johnny vocals) , the Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, a heavier version of The Clash and The Stranglers, as well as the vibe of the Rezillos mixed with the New York Dolls, and The Stooges. They have captured that nostalgic sound to perfection. Of course it might have something to do with their debut album having been written and recorded in Johnny’s living room in only 8 weeks.
As with every TOP LEFT CLUB performance, they begin with their ‘Shoulders At 90’ human shaped ’T’ pose, which always causes giggles, especially from those that have no idea what is about to hit them full-on in the face!. I wonder how many present this evening inside the Concorde 2 realise that this lot very recently supported The Undertones?
On the music front, the fast and furious tunes are delivered at pace, one after the other barely leaving time for the masses to show their appreciation, and yet they do somehow manage to offload their appreciation of what their ears are hearing and eyes are seeing. Tim’s drumset is offset at an angle at the front of the stage on our right (stage left), next to him is tattooed Johnny on bass. To his right (our left) is Jimi on keys and main spokesperson for the band. His microphone is set on echo in between tunes and the end of ‘One Step Beyond’ by Madness jumps into my head. Completing the quartet is MacDaddy on guitar, who is positioned on our left (stage right). You’d never guess that this is a ‘supergroup’ of sorts, as they all gel together very nicely and are all clearly coming at us from the same direction and singing off the same punk hymn sheet, so to speak.
For once, I’m not going to give you a rundown on their set one song at a time, this is because I was so busy moving and dancing around to their set and enjoying myself that only scant notes were taken. So in conclusion…..just do yerfelf a favour and check them out!
Top Left Club setlist:
‘Intro’
‘Talk Talk’
‘Rip’
‘Rollin’’
‘ICU Tonight’
‘No Control’
‘Piss’
‘World’
Rattle My Brain’
‘Teddy Biscuits’
‘Dream’
‘Frown’
‘Tie Me Down’
‘Demons’
After this performance, the Brighton Centre was visited to watch Richard Ashcroft in concert. Read the review HERE.
