THEATRE OF HATE + BASSO! – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 28.5.24
Kirk Brandon’s Theatre Of Hate rode back into town after an absence of a couple of years. They are out and about on tour and funnily enough this is actually the additional second Brighton concert at The Prince Albert on account of the first announced one having sold out. But then due to health reasons that was postponed from its original date of 20th April to Sunday 2nd June, so tonight is now the first of two gigs this week in this iconic venue which was originally a three-story town house built in 1848 and was then converted into a pub in 1860 and has remained a watering hole ever since. We are located upstairs on the first floor in order to witness the lads play their set. As you would expect it was absolutely rammed this evening, it was sardine central in there.
In 1980, Kirk Brandon formed Theatre Of Hate from the ashes of heralded punk band The Pack. Joining Kirk was Stan Stammers along with Luke Rendall, plus old school friend Steve Guthrie and Canadian born John “Boy” Lennard, who revolutionised the band’s sound with his haunting sax lines. Theatre Of Hate’s debut double-A-side single, ‘Original Sin/Legion’, topped the independent chart in 1980, and their debut studio album ‘Westworld’, released in 1982, was produced by none other than Mick Jones from The Clash and held the number one position for an amazing 21 weeks. The single taken from the album, ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ has become an anthem and is still widely played in clubs and on international radio, as well as featuring on numerous compilation albums.
Supporting the likes of The Clash and Ian Dury led to Theatre Of Hate headlining major venues across the UK and Northern Europe. Sadly, Theatre Of Hate called it a day in 1982, with Kirk taking Stan forward to form Spear Of Destiny. The band has resurfaced over the years to play some very special shows. Having been asked to join The Damned for a massive show at London’s infamous Roundhouse in December 2014, the band once again joined the fray. A short set of dates around the London anchor show attracted rave reviews, as did a 6 night sold out run in December 2014. Then in 2015 they made two short jaunts across the UK in April and December both sets of dates wowed large crowds. During touring in 2014 and 2015, the band constantly recorded at Oxygen Studios in Manchester and the result being their first new studio album in 30+ years. This was titled ‘Kinshi’ and was released on October 14th 2016. The 12 new songs were simply stunning and on 9th November 2018 eager fans were served ‘Sensou’ from the band. Their latest platter ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’ arrived back in 2020.
This evening’s musicians are centre stage Cosh Boy t-shirt wearing Kirk Brandon on lead vocals, who is brandishing his very own specially designed (but not made by him) cordless guitar with Bigsby tremolo, which gets traded in for one number (‘The Wake’) for a not so dramatic looking Fender. He also has 6 foot pedals at his disposal. To Kirk’s right (our left) is Clive Osborne (from The Dynamite Band) on saxophone; to the rear of the stage is Chris Bell who was the original Spear Of Destiny drummer (as well being on the stix for the Thompson Twins and Gene Loves Jezebel); and completing the quartet (stage left, our right) is the one and only Stan Stammers on cordless Fender Jaguar bass and backing vocals. I noted that when I last saw the band a couple of years back, their ranks were also bolstered by Spear Of Destiny member Adrian Portas on Gretsch guitar who was formerly of New Model Army, but I suspect that he might now have left the fold.
We are to be given an 18 tune career spanning solid set of tracks that came out as far back as 1981 and as recently as 2020. As always, there is the Theatre Of Hate face logo trademark hanging behind the band as a backdrop. Surprisingly they kicked off with ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ (from 1982’s ‘Westworld’ album) which had actually been the closing tune when I saw them last. Immediately you can see the pure class of musicianship on offer here! I believe the concert had been sold out, but thankfully we had located ourselves at the very front and I was able to rest my hand(s) on the stage floor speakers in order not to only see and hear the music, but feel it vibrate right through my body as well, for that total overall immersive experience.
‘My Own Invention’ (from the 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single), ‘Freaks’ (from 1982’s ‘Westworld’ album) and ‘A Thing Of Beauty’ (from 2020’s ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’ album were the next trio of selections. As ever Kirk’s wailing vocals gilding the chaps along. The music was speaking volumes, unlike the quartet, who preferred to let their compositions do all the talking. It was now the turn of one of the set highlights, this being ‘Conquistador’ (from 1982’s ‘Westworld’ album). Thankfully the punters preferred to stand and absorb the material as opposed to throwing themselves around like they used to do to the same material 40 years ago. Yep we’re all getting older, but still appreciate great music! After four more tunes, we had arrived at ‘Incinerator’ (from 1981’s ‘Nero’ single), which was delivered particularly well this evening, and is arguably their punk rock disco number, think Killing Joke’s ‘Pssyche’ and you are in the right zone. But the lads somehow eclipsed this with the main set closing number, namely ‘Propaganda’ which is found on 1982’s ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ single and which tonight highlighted the harmony between the animated Stan with his rumbly bass and Chris with his tribal drumming – terrific stuff!
The band briefly left the stage only to return to perform a trio of other numbers, beginning with, as Kirk put it “Their only happy song”, this being their 1982 ‘The Hop’ single. After which we had ‘You Can’t Stop What’s Coming’ from their last album ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’, and completed the performance with a great rendition of their 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single. Hold on a minute…..what no ‘Legion’?. You can’t have a ToH gig without ‘Legion’ or maybe even ‘63’?. OK other than these two missing tracks, it has been a totally solid performance and the lads are going to do it all again on Sunday!
Theatre Of Hate:
Kirk Brandon – lead vocals, guitar
Stan Stammers – bass, backing vocals
Clive Osborne – saxophone
Chris Bell – drums
Theatre Of Hate setlist:
‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘My Own Invention’ (from 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single)
‘Freaks’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘A Thing Of Beauty’ (from 2020 ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’ album)
‘Conquistador’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘The Wake (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘Facade’ (from 2016 ‘Kinshi’ album)
‘Original Sin’ (from 1980 ‘Original Sin’/’Legion’ single)
‘Anniversary’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘Poppies’ (from 1981 ‘LIve At The Lyceum’ cassette)
‘Grapes of Wrath’ (Spear of Destiny cover)
‘Judgement Hymn’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘Incinerator’ (from 1981 ‘Nero’ single)
‘Propaganda’ (from 1982 ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ single)
(encore)
‘63’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘The Hop’ (from 1982 ‘The Hop’ single)
‘You Can’t Stop What’s Coming’ (from 2020 ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’ album
‘Rebel Without A Brain’ (from 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single)
For more Theatre Of Hate information, visit: www.kirkbrandon.com
Support this evening came in the form of Basso! who appear to be media shy on the account of not having any Facebook, Instagram or websites that I could find! They are made up of Long Tall Texans, a Piranha and Preachermen, these being Boggles ‘The Pumpkin’ Denman (vocals, guitar), Garry ‘Cheeseman’ Watson (vocals, guitar), Mike ‘Rock’ Roberts (vocals/bass) and Will ‘Prince Albert’ Moore (drums). It is said that they played their first gig at The Freebutt back in 1994 but disbanded in 1996 and now they ride again for the occasional worthy support slot here and there, but more often than not at The Prince Albert. Having said that, these guys have known each other and played for around 35 years, and it clearly shows tonight during their 39 minute eleven track set, which commenced at 8:17pm.
Their instrument brands of choice being Gibson Les Paul, Johnson bass guitar, drums and alternating Epiphone guitar and Fender Telecaster. Their sound is pub rock’n’roll blues meets 60’s garage sounds which would be appreciated by fans of Dr Feelgood and those acts of a similar ilk. They are relatively lively, slightly loud and rather well polished. They deliver a set packed with guitars, slide guitars and a face full of bass energy, with some superb enthusiastic drumming. They also seem to just enjoy what they are doing and each other’s company, which is a winner. There was no idle banter between tracks, the lads just preferring to get down to business, which is exactly how things should be with their sound. The tracks bounced by, our feet tapping away in appreciation. Set highlight for me was ‘No More Running Away’ which felt like an early to mid 1970’s Rolling Stones number. They were at their most enthusiastic for their closing number ‘Off My Mind’. It was surprising to learn that tonight was only their second gig of the year and that they only currently have a couple more booked into their schedules for October. And at 8:56pm they were done and whisked away their own drumkit to make way for Theatre Of Hate’s one.
Basso!:
Boggles ‘The Pumpkin’ Denman – vocals, guitar
Garry ‘Cheeseman’ Watson – vocals, guitar
Mike ‘Rock’ Roberts – bass, backing vocals
Will Moore – drums
Basso! setlist:
‘Saints And Sinners’
‘Million Things’
‘Poor Man’s Poison’
‘Burning Some’
‘I Am The Blues’
‘World Comes Tumbling’
‘Nothing Left But Bones’
‘Used To Do’
‘No More Running Away’
‘Lose Control’
‘Off My Mind’
