RUTS DC + TV SMITH + THE DINZ – CONCORDE 2 18.5.23
The Ruts were one of the most exciting and promising bands to emerge from the new wave of the late 1970s. Their 1979 album ‘The Crack’ is rightly regarded as an all-time classic, and a slew of incendiary singles including ‘Babylon’s Burning’, ‘Something That I Said’ and ‘Staring At The Rude Boys’ cemented the popularity of their urgently punky sound. The untimely death of singer Malcom Owen in 1980 was a devastating blow, but the remaining members continued as Ruts DC, with a more reggae-influenced sound. DC stands for “da capo”, a musical term meaning “back to the beginning”.
Having split in 1983, the band reunited in 2007 to play a benefit gig for original guitarist Paul Fox, who was unwell with cancer and sadly died later that year. With the recruitment of Leigh Heggarty, they returned to regular gigging and recording, and have subsequently re-established themselves as a popular act on the live circuit. The current run is the second part of a tour to promote their recent ‘Counterculture?’ album, and tonight’s show at Concorde 2 is the seventh of thirteen dates.
First support this evening is The Dinz, a punky four-piece from Portsmouth. I’m pretty sure the name is a pun on a contraction of “dinlo”, a colloquial term in the local Pompey vernacular for someone not playing with the full deck. They produce a lively and bouncy sort of old school punk, of which opening number ‘Going Nowhere’ is a fine example. There’s a great break of bass and drums on ‘Dumbed Down’, and catchy chanted vocal hooks on ‘I’m Alright’ and ‘Turn That Noise Down’. During the latter, guitarist Rob has a problem and needs to switch instrument. Steve on bass, and the interestingly-monikered Turkee on drums have no problem maintaining the shuffling groove while he does so.
Mark is an engaging frontman, and is doing his best to whip up some excitement. The band came on not long after the doors opened, so the crowd has been a bit sparse but the room is steadily filling up. I like the alternating chant on ‘Don’t’, which features an impressively intense snare build from Turkee. ‘Droids’ starts with a bit of a Stooges feel, progressing with wah guitar and an interesting and slightly awkward looking drum pattern. This entertaining set concludes with ‘We Are The Dinz’, another chantalong number with some effective stops and an impressive guitar break. This has been an entertaining start to the evening.
The Dinz:
Mark Ballard – vocals
Rob Matthews – guitar
Steve Dowdell – bass
Turkee -drums
The Dinz setlist:
‘Going Nowhere’
‘Dumbed Down’
‘Terror Attack’
‘I’m Alright’
‘Turn That Noise Down’
‘Don’t’
‘Treason’
‘Carry On Dinz’
‘Droids’
‘We Are The Dinz’
More on The Dinz HERE.
Next up we have a bit of a treat: a solo set from TV Smith, who is best known as the former frontman of 1977 first-wavers The Adverts. Along with his cherished position in the punk canon, he has since become something of a national treasure, maintaining his razor-sharp lyrical edge as a songwriter and popular performer on the live circuit, both solo and fronting various backing bands. Tonight it’s just him and an acoustic guitar, and he’s looking trim and in splendid nick, punkily cool in a tie-dyed vest and drainpipe trousers. A lively rendition of The Adverts’ ‘No Time To Be 21’ gets the audience engaged and shouting along from the off.
The solo acoustic format doesn’t generally offer too many showboating possibilities, though our hero makes the most of any instrumental sections in the songs to groove around the stage, thrusting the headstock skywards, dropping to a crouch, or firing off leg kicks. The songwriting speaks for itself, covering many pressing issues. Even older numbers like ‘Expensive Being Poor’ seem prescient given the current financial climate. There’s a funny quip introducing ‘Let’s Go Back To The Good Old Days’ that certainly rings true for me:
“People keep telling me that it used to be better in the good old days. Well, I’m 67 years old now, and I’ve got 67 years’ experience to tell me it was always sh*t, even back then.”
‘Handwriting’ is a new song, set in a future where “everything you love is banned”. There’s a sort of ‘1984’ vibe to it. I like the conceit that writing by hand gives the freedom to tell the truth. The future where every keystroke on a digital device can be tracked and recalled, is pretty much here. There’s another new song (new to me, at least) called ‘One Minute To Midnight’ about the climate emergency. It concludes with a particularly dramatic countdown. For an indication of the regard in which TV Smith is held in the punk community, the passionately enthusiastic singalong to the two Adverts’ classics that wrap up the set will do nicely.
TV Smith setlist:
‘No Time To Be 21’ (single, 1978, as The Adverts)
‘Lockdown Holiday’ (from ‘Lockdown Holiday’ 2020)
‘Expensive Being Poor’ (from ‘Generation Y’ 1998)
‘Immortal Rich’ (from ‘Immortal Rich’ 1994)
‘Let’s Go Back To The Good Old Days’ (single, 2022)
‘Handwriting’ (new, unreleased)
‘One Minute To Midnight’ (new, unreleased)
‘It’s Warming Up’ (from ‘In The Arms Of My Enemy’ 2008)
‘You Saved My Life Then Ruined It’ (from ‘Misinformation Overload’ 2006)
‘Lion And The Lamb’ (from ‘March Of The Giants’ 1992)
‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ (single, 1977, as The Adverts)
‘One Chord Wonders’ (single, 1977, as The Adverts)
The stage is set, and nicely dressed for Ruts DC. The backdrop and kick drum display the current ‘Counterculture?’ imagery, whilst the backline amps are badged with the classic triangle logo: ‘Ruts DC’ for Leigh’s Marshall 4×12 and ‘Ruts’ for Segs’ Ashdown bass stack. The band comes on to an enormous cheer. Segs looks cool in a black suit, hat and shades, and straps on his familiar road worn Precision bass. Guitarist Leigh favours a black Les Paul, that complements his black waistcoat and stripey shirt. Behind the kit, Dave sports a sort of yachting cap. We are at the seaside, after all. He briefly dons headphones to launch some samples from a trigger pad to supplement the massive sound of opener ‘Faces In The Sky’.
The setlist indicates a few Ruts’ numbers from ‘The Crack’ are next, and unsurprisingly things start getting lively down the front. There’s a proper mosh underway for ’S.U.S.’, and the excitement is enhanced by a photon storm of strobe lighting. The dub breakdown in the middle is as cool as you like, and the low end frequencies are moving enough air to feel like a gentle punch in the stomach. Leigh and Segs always cut a dash grooving together centre stage, and they’re looking particularly good during the urgent, familiar and wonderful ‘You’re Just A…’. An insistent throb underpins the appropriately chilling ‘It Was Cold’.
After the chiming riffing of ‘No Time To Kill’, ‘X-Ray Joy’, from the latest album, is touchingly dedicated to Ian Curtis, former singer of Joy Division. Today (18th May) is the 43rd anniversary of his death. The majestic sweep of ‘Kill The Pain’ inspires much arm punching and chanting from the ecstatic audience, and the utterly magnificent ‘West One (Shine On Me)’, originally released shortly after Malcolm Owen’s tragic death, also in 1980, elicits a similar response but with even more intensity.
Leigh and Segs swap instruments for ‘Despondency’, which seems to be great fun for all involved, including us in the crowd. I had thought that the colossal bass sound might be partly due to some special magic in Segs’ fingers, but it sounds equally awesome played by Leigh. The title track of the current album is brisk and bouncy with a fantastic chorus, and I particularly like ‘Born Innocent’ from the same collection. Its reggae lilt ushers in an amazing solo from Leigh, which in turns gives way to a haunting refrain of “Hate nobody. Hurt nobody. Harm nobody.”
The band members are fantastic players, each displaying the insouciant ease that comes from decades of digging in. As a live act they are hard to beat, despite (and indeed because of) all those years on the clock. The newer material stands proud amongst the classics, although a flurry of numbers from 1979 guarantees a lively end to the evening. ‘Something That I Said’, ‘In A Rut’ and the iconic riffage of ‘Babylon’s Burning’ soundtrack a frenetic mosh on the beer drenched floor. I’m ricocheting off the bumpers in this extended play of human pinball, and thus unable to take notes, though I do notice Leigh doing something clever with harmonics during ‘In A Rut’.
There’s not really any doubt that there will be encores, and we catch a breather during the relatively sedate ‘Pretty Lunatics’ before the mayhem gets back underway for ‘Staring At The Rude Boys’ and ‘Psychic Attack’. It has been a fantastic evening of entertainment that I’ve enjoyed immensely, a sentiment echoed by everyone I speak to leaving the venue.
Ruts DC:
John ‘Segs’ Jennings – vocal/bass
Leigh Heggarty – guitar/vocals
Dave Ruffy – drums/vocals
Ruts DC setlist:
‘Faces In The Sky’ (from ‘Counterculture?’ 2022)
’S.U.S’. (from ‘The Crack’ 1979, as The Ruts)
‘You’re Just A…’ (from ‘The Crack’ 1979, as The Ruts)
‘It Was Cold’ (from ‘The Crack’ 1979, as The Ruts)
‘No Time To Kill’ (from ‘Animal Now’ 1981)
‘X-Ray Joy’ (from ‘Counterculture?’ 2022)
‘Kill The Pain’ (from ‘Music Must Destroy’ 2016)
‘West One (Shine On Me)’ (single, 1980, as The Ruts)
‘Despondency’ (from ‘Animal Now’ 1981)
‘Counterculture?’ (from ‘Counterculture?’ 2022)
‘Born Innocent’ (from ‘Counterculture?’ 2022)
‘Jah War’ (from ‘The Crack’ 1979, as The Ruts)
‘Poison Games’ (from ‘Counterculture?’ 2022)
‘Caught In The Kill Zone’ (from ‘Counterculture?’ 2022)
‘Something That I Said’ (from ‘The Crack’ 1979, as The Ruts)
‘In A Rut’ (single, 1979, as The Ruts)
‘Babylon’s Burning’ (from ‘The Crack’ 1979, as The Ruts)
(encore)
‘Pretty Lunatics’ (from ‘Counterculture?’ 2022)
‘Staring At The Rude Boys’ (single, 1980, as The Ruts)
‘Psychic Attack’ (from ‘Music Must Destroy’ 2016)
