The Brighton & Hove News have caught wind of a rather rare concert appearance that is to take place at a Brighton venue that is not often utilized as a live music venue. This is very exciting news on both accounts and certainly not a night to be missed!
After a gap of 20 years, legendary Scottish punk rockers The Exploited, who formed in 1979 and in 1981 released the iconic ‘Punks Not Dead’ debut album, followed six months later by their terrific ‘On Stage’ live album, have been gigging since 1980….have now finally announced a Brighton concert!
Their last visit (by our reckoning) was back in 2003 when they played at the Concorde 2 on 24th July of that year. They also came here back in the early days when they played Xtreems (The New Regent) at the bottom of West Street which used to stand opposite The Top Rank Suite (now PRYZM) on 31st March 1983 and then returned on 15th February 1985 for the infamous abandoned riot gig at the Pavilion Theatre (on New Road) which had UK Subs as support.
The Exploited concerts are usually lively affairs as their ‘Barmy Army’ “don’t F*ckin’ mess”. The Brighton & Hove News were fortunate to witness the band performing live at last year’s Rebellion Festival in Blackpool on 6th August. Earlier that day, we also attended a special Q&A session featuring The Exploited’s frontman Wattie Buchan, which was very interesting indeed, as he says it exactly as it is, interspersed with copious amounts of swearing!
The Exploited’s Rebellion live set took place in the Club Casbah from 10pm to 11pm on 6th August 2022. They were, as ever, still on the case, here’s our account of that set:
“No need to leave the room just yet as UK82 legends The Exploited were set to take the stage. I hadn’t seen them way back when so I was definitely up for seeing them tonight. Earlier on, I had been to see their singer doing a Q&A on the Literary Stage which was definitely value for money. As you probably know, he doesn’t mince his words and many people were in the firing line.
As soon as ‘Let’s Start A War’ rang out the crowd were going for it. I always thought that their songs sounded more metally over the years, but not tonight, as they sounded punk for sure. It was a bit of a treat hearing ‘Dead Cities’ and ‘UK82‘ again I must admit. ‘Troops Of Tomorrow‘ got an airing and our friend Sean hijacked the microphone in between songs to get the crowd to chant the obligatory ‘Exploited Barmy Army!’. All the classics were played and a great end to a night and day in the Casbah for me”.
No doubt that has whetted your appetite to see them!
The Exploited – whose current live lineup features Wattie Buchan (vocals), Irish Rob (bass), Steve Campbell (guitar), and 2023 new drummer boy Jo Oom (from Dutch band Disturbance) – had initially announced a set of European tour dates at the beginning of the month, but have now added a handful of UK ones.
One of these will be in Brighton and will be taking place (courtesy of promoters Divergent Venues) at The Arch which is a club that was established in 2015 and can be located at 187-193 Kings Road, Brighton, BN1 1NB. It’s on a ramp that leads down to Brighton Beach! The concert will be taking place on Friday 24th March 2023.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased HERE or from your usual ticket suppliers.
