LONDON CALLING + PENNY BLOOD – THE CON CLUB, LEWES 29.4.23
What a fantastic evening to attend a London Calling gig. The sun was still in the sky as we arrived in Lewes, parked up in the free car park and wandered down the High Street to Lewes Con Club. Always a warm welcome from the staff (and the promoters Black Rabbit Productions & Pogo Events), it is one of our favourite places to see bands new, or old and tributes play.
Warming up the audience before the main event this evening were Penny Blood, a 3 piece band from Brighton headed by Jimmy Slag on lead vocals, Dave on drums. I’d never heard of them before tonight, let alone seen them, and they were fab!
From the off the sound was cranked up and LOUD! The music was tight and I was able to hear the lyrics clearly. They did remind me of other groups though. I’d thought maybe Green Day and Bow Wow Wow influences, photographer Nick thought Toy Dolls, and our bestie Ellie (sorry for this), maybe an early McFly vibe. This doesn’t mean that Penny Blood have been plagiarising other groups or tracks, but for me it drew me in. There is a lot to like about this group. They have been stated as saying their influences are the Ramones, Motörhead, Killing Joke, The Damned, Bob Mould, Nirvana, The Cure, The Cult and Arctic Monkeys so quite eclectic.
‘Dear John’, the second song tonight, I particularly enjoyed as it was about the late and VERY great John Peel (God rest his soul – what a wonderful DJ he was). The drummer took lead vocals for this, which is unusual for drummers as they expend too much energy during gigs to sing – but guess as this was early on all was OK. ‘Shadow Play’ gave lyrics of …“staring at the sun….” and ….“supersonic summer…..”, let’s hope this is a premonition of what’s to come especially after the warm evening we had.
‘Don’t Give Me Shelter’ was the track I thought had Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ influences. ‘Ophelia’ had a heavier feel to it, but heck I didn’t mind – they’d written a song and named it after one of my granddaughters. OK, maybe they hadn’t, but I was happy.
‘Feeding Time’ reminded me of Bow Wow Wow’s ‘I Want Candy’ from the point of the drums at the beginning – that was where the likeness ended. There was a slip up at the start of ‘Revolution’, with Dave stopping and saying the track didn’t start that way. It didn’t put any of them off their stride and they restarted as though nothing had happened.
For a support band, they were excellent. One of the best I’ve seen for a while. So, the question is – would I go and see them perform again? Yes, I would. I think I might even go and see them as the headline act.
Penny Blood:
Jim Phelan – guitar/vocals,
Caveman Dave O’Brien – drums
Dom Smith – bass
Penny Blood setlist:
‘Superbad’
‘Dear John’
‘Shadow Play’
‘Slanderous’
‘Don’t Give Me Shelter’
‘Moonboy’
‘Ophelia’
‘Do It Again’
‘Feeding Time’
‘Revolution’
‘The Odd Couple’
London Calling
On 22nd December 2003, the anniversary of Joe Strummer’s death a group of 4 friends from Bristol performed a one off gig in aid of charity. The gig was short – just 12 songs. When they finished the audience asked them to play the set again; and so London Calling were born.
As the stage was being set up (good to see plenty of water was being put out), photographer Nick asked if he could take a photo of the setlist, and was told they don’t put it out until they start to play as the audience quite often pinch them – memorabilia is important. What looked like a setlist was taped to one of the front speakers, but was in fact the words to ‘Rock The Casbah’ (which Reg admitted to not knowing).
Looking around, the audience consisted of all ages, those that were more experienced in life that may have seen the original line up between 1976-1986, and those from younger generations including a young lad with Down’s syndrome, Daniel (I’ll get to him later). It’s great to see that it wasn’t just fans of the original band there to enjoy the evening.
When the theme tune to ‘The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly’ sounded, it was time for the gig to commence. Kicking off the set tonight ‘London’s Calling’ played ‘Janie Jones’ which was the first track on The Clash’s debut album ‘The Clash’ released in 1977, then it was non-stop. The whole of ‘The Clash’ album was played, followed by tracks that got the crowd moshing, singing, filming and photographing.
There were a couple of setbacks through the evening that in no way impeded the performance or enjoyment of those attending tonight’s gig. After ‘Hate And War’ had been played, one of the monitors was turned up which Reg responded to with a “that’s better” – but to be honest from the audience’s point of view we didn’t notice any change. There was then another issue with an amp and a microphone in front of it that needed tightening – cue a roadie who came on, did what he had to do and left with no break in the excellent set that these guys were playing. And, as for James (Topper/Terry), what can I say? He must have some mighty strong arms. Not only did he manage to break 1 snare drum, he managed to break 2! Yes, 2 snare drums! After ‘Tommy Gun’ was performed, Reg asked if anyone had happened to take snare drum with them to the gig. Unbelievably, someone went home to get theirs! You couldn’t make it up. What was even more unbelievable was James changed the drum over whilst playing the track ‘Pressure Drop’. There was no raising or dropping of pressure during that performance.
A couple of tracks later and after ‘Capital Radio’ Reg announced it was James’ birthday – so of course the obligatory ‘Happy Birthday’ was sung to him (I wonder if he put snare drum on his birthday wish list?).
‘Bankrobber’ had audience participation with Reg holding the mic over the audience to capture them singing. They had actually been singing along to nearly all of all the tracks, maybe Reg just needed a rest.
After the 28 songs that were covered, the band left the stage – only to come back on for the encore of a further 3 songs, first of which was ‘Rock The Casbah’. Did Reg look at the lyrics? Well, if he did I didn’t see him do so. ‘London’s Calling’ was next with the last song of the evening being ‘White Riot’.
As the evening wore on and the alcohol flowed and was consumed, the crowd became more enthusiastic with joining in. The area immediately in front of the stage became denser with people and less room to move, but this didn’t deter anyone from having a good time, and the obligatory mosh pit (although on a small scale) appeared. Reg had already said at the start of the evening to look out for each other, and help each other if in need – and that definitely came into play, especially for Daniel.
And, as I said I would talk more about Daniel, here goes. I spoke to him at the end of the gig – he said he loves rock music, and loves to dance to it. Daniel’s chaperone said it was fantastic that the Lewes Con Club was so welcoming. His evening had started off with him covering his ears as the music was too loud, but our friend Ellie gave him the spare set of earplugs that we had (we never go to a gig without them) and this changed the evening for him as he was able to be in the front row close to the speakers for the main act. He was the hero of the crowd. His energy dancing to every track was contagious. During ‘Cheat’ he was fist pumped by Reg and judging by the look on his face it made his evening – to that point I’m glad our photographer Nick managed to capture it. Towards the end of ‘Complete Control’, Daniel had a fall and had to sit on the edge of the stage. This didn’t bypass the band who basically stopped the gig, were checking that he was OK, offered him water and thanked him for attending the gig.
The next track played, ‘(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais’ was then dedicated to him. Daniel, if you are reading this I look forward to seeing you at future gigs!
This is one of the best – no, THE best tribute bands I have had the pleasure of watching. They use the same amps and guitars as “The Clash” to ensure their on stage sound is as perfect as possible to what was the real thing. If you ever have the chance to see them, go along – you will not be disappointed.
London Calling will again be out on tour from the end of September, when they will be celebrating the 45 anniversary of The Clash’s ‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’ album. There are 13 dates currently planned and one of those will be in Brighton on Friday 8th December, when they rock on up at Patterns. Tour tickets can be located HERE.
London Calling:
Reg Shaw (Joe Strummer) – lead vocals, guitar
Dave Devonald (Mick Jones) – lead guitar, vocals
Joe Guatieri (Paul Simonon) – bass guitar, vocals
James Wise (Topper Headon/Terry Chimes) – drums, percussion
London Calling setlist:
‘Janie Jones’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘Remote Control’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘I’m So Bored’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘Hate And War’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘What’s My Name’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘Deny’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘London’s Burning’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘Career Opportunities’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘Cheat’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘Protex Blue’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘Police & Thieves’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘48 Hrs’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘Garageland’ (‘The Clash’ album 1977)
‘Train In Vain’ (‘London Calling’ album 1979)
‘Safe European Home’ (‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’ album 1978)
‘Tommy Gun’ (‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’ album 1978)
‘Pressure Drop’ (B side of ‘English Civil War’)
‘English Civil War’ (‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’ album 1978)
‘Capital Radio’ (B side of EP ‘Capital Radio’ 1977)
‘Somebody Got Murdered’ (‘Sandinista’ album 1980)
‘Rudie Can’t Fail’ (‘London Calling’ album 1979)
‘Bankrobber’ (non album single 1980)
‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ (‘Combat Rock’ album 1982)
‘Stay Free’ (‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’ album 1978)
‘Clash City Rockers’ (Single 1978)
‘Compete Control’ (Single 1977)
‘(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais’ (Single 1978)
‘I Fought The Law’ (A side of EP ‘The Cost of Living’ 1979)
(encore)
‘Rock The Casbah’ (‘Combat Rock’ album 1982)
‘London Calling’ (‘London Calling’ album 1979)
‘White Riot’ (Single 1977)
