THEATRE OF HATE + THE RITUALISTS – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 22.4.26
It’s always welcome news when you hear that Kirk and the gang (Theatre Of Hate) are riding into town. But before we could get some “original sin”, the support act dragged us towards the stage to investigate.
For this time we had The Ritualists as support. The band hail from the USA, indeed the lower east side of New York. They evolved from the NYC underground scene and first achieved critical acclaim with their debut album ‘Painted People’, released just prior to the Covid pandemic, with the lead single ‘Ice Flower’ praised for its fusion of dark beauty and anthemic pop…more on ‘Ice Flower’ in a moment.
The band are Christian Dryden on vocals and bass, Jeffery Andrew on keyboards, David Andreana on guitar and Eric Ruby on drums, and what a surprise they were!
Arriving in true rock n roll style via British Rail. Off we go with set opener ‘Rattles’, then quickly on with ‘You Know Better’ and ‘Sweet Despair’. Christian provides the centre point of the show, on an admittedly very small stage, but he makes a great attempt to use the little space he has well…at the same time bringing in the, by now, curious punters…off into (I think) ‘Baroque And Bleeding’,’1000 Tears’ and ‘King Of Air’.
By now very few people are at the bar, far better to investigate this lot. The band are tight, yet appear to experiment, and add to the recorded versions of their songs…which lands well. ‘I’m With The Painted People’ and ‘Ice Flower’ follow, and then it’s the end of the set…the band received an appreciative reception from the Punters…and then almost before you could blink the mighty Theatre of Hate hit the stage.
The Ritualists:
Christian Dryden – vocals, bass
Jeffery Andrew – keyboards
David Andreana – guitar
Eric Ruby – drums
The Ritualists setlist:
‘Rattles’ (from 2019 ‘Painted People’ album)
‘You Know Better’ (from 2025 ‘Too Pure To Cure’ album)
‘Sweet Despair’ (from 2025 ‘Too Pure To Cure’ album)
‘Baroque And Bleeding’ (from 2021 ‘Baroque And Bleeding’ album)
‘1000 Tears’ (from 2025 ‘Too Pure To Cure’ album)
‘King Of Air’ (from 2025 ‘Too Pure To Cure’ album)
‘I’m With The Painted People’ (from 2019 ‘Painted People’ album)
‘Ice Flower’ (from 2019 ‘Painted People’ album)
It’s always a pleasure to see Theatre Of Hate who emerged back in 1980 with Kirk Brandon vocals, bassist Stan Stammers, guitarist Steve Guthrie, and John ‘Boy’ Lennard on sax, although these days it’s only Kirk and Stan that remain in the current line up…but what a noise they make!
The vast majority of those at Patterns know the band and the story so I won’t repeat too much here.
Their double A-sided ‘Original Sin’/’Legion’ single which was released in November 1980 is a truly timeless record, and their ‘debut’ ‘He Who Dares Wins’ LP promoted their reputation as a great live act. For me this was only slightly diminished by the IMHO over produced ‘Westworld’ LP.
However it was down to the basics tonight, with the band in great form! A brisk start of ‘Judgement Hymn’, ‘63’ and ‘My Own Invention’, was swiftly followed by a great version of ‘The Wake’ which certainly secured the eyes and ears of the gathered punters.
It was back to back rock n roll with the arrival of more recent number ‘Facade’, which was lifted from 2016’s comeback ‘Kinshi’ album. Their solid 1981 ‘Nero’ single came next and was followed by ‘A Thing of Beauty’ which was one of two cuts culled from their ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’ album, which surfaced back in 2020.
The band are accomplished musicians who were showing us how tight they can be and as a result the quartet appeared to be enjoying themselves, whilst the crowd were grooving to the sounds.
It was really a rollercoaster of great rock’n’roll, with no messing about, no breaks, just back to back solid material, none more so than the next trio of tunes, namely ‘Conquistador’, ‘The Hop’ and ‘Original Sin’.
The second offering from ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’ was up next with the delivering of ‘You Can’t Stop What’s Coming’, which for yours truly was eclipsed by ‘Poppies’ which can be located on their great ‘Live At The Lyceum’ cassette from 1981. Staying in the same year, the lads then blasted out their popular ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single. ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ came next and was delivered with aplomb. They were now in the home straight and they hardly let us come up for air as they performed ‘Propaganda’ as the final track of the night.
The punters vacated the venue and disappeared into the cold dark Brighton night with the reassurance that rock’n’roll served with attitude was very much still alive and kicking!
Theatre Of Hate:
Kirk Brandon – lead vocals, guitar
Stan Stammers – bass, backing vocals
Clive Osborne – saxophone
Chris Bell – drums
Theatre Of Hate setlist:
‘Judgement Hymn’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘63’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘My Own Invention’ (from 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single)
‘The Wake’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘Facade’ (from 2016 ‘Kinshi’ album)
‘Nero’ (from 1981 ‘Nero’ single)
‘A Thing Of Beauty’ (from 2020 ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’ album)
‘Conquistador’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘The Hop’ (from 1982 ‘The Hop’ single)
‘Original Sin’ (from 1980 ‘Original Sin’/’Legion’ single)
‘You Can’t Stop What’s Coming’ (from 2020 ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’ album)
‘Poppies’ (from 1981 ‘Live At The Lyceum’ cassette)
‘Rebel Without A Brain’ (from 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single)
‘Incinerator’ (from 1981 ‘Nero’ single)
‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
(encore)
‘Propaganda’ (from 1982 ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ single)
