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Funnily enough, whilst I couldn't wait to see the band again, I was on the other hand a little cautious due to the company that I had that evening. My friend Jane had accompanied me to many Test Tubes gigs, but never to one of this particular band whilst our other companion Bev had never even been to a Punk show before, let alone a band of the nature of GBH. After all, I have said it so many times before that I would probably take my mother to see Peter and Co due to the (relatively) melodic nature of their music, but GBH are a totally different band, very friendly .. but with a much harder sound, I waited to see what would happen anyway. My most pressing concern of the evening was actually to be able to stay awake since I had just travelled over from Warrington and got stuck in god knows how many motorway traffic queues, hardly a great start to the evening !
Fearing not being able to get in due to crowding (it has happened at Rios), we got there at about 8 o'clock and grabbed some drinks and a table. It wasn't so long before I spotted Ross and Jock skulking in the shadows listening to the support bands. Incidentally, the first support band on weren't so bad, they played mostly (if not totally), a set of Punk cover versions, my only complaint was that it was a little too loud .. especially as the place was hardly heaving at that particular point. Luckily for us, we were soon joined by Colin who emerged out of the side door and after initial conversation, we all piled back upstairs to the no-expense spared decor of the venues 'dressing room' .. I say this with some sarcasm by the way, it was awful .. in keeping with the toilet standards of all the dressing rooms that I have been in !
There were various people milling around and the atmosphere was pretty jovial, helped along merrily by the appearance of the band's rider, more pure alcohol than you get in an off-licence I would say. The most valuable item there was one of those 'upside-down' labelled bottles of the sort used for dispensing behind the bar, I would swear that most of this went down Colin's neck in the last 15 minutes before they went on but then again .. .. !!
There proved a good opportunity to talk to Scott, the band's drummer whom I had seen play before but never had the chance to meet. As it happens, he is an extremely friendly bloke despite having more tattoos than probably most of the British Navy put together. This was probably just as well as I felt obliged to enquire about one such tattoo on behalf of Bev who was fascinated by the massive (and seemingly unfinished) Octopus which was slowly making its way round his leg. The Octopus did look somewhat anaemic due to its not having been 'filled-in' and so in a typical school-childish .. "excuse me but my friend wants to know .. " scenario, I inevitably had to ask the question on Bev's behalf ! "It needs another 8 sessions to complete it" replied Scott. "Does it hurt ?" said I thinking that eight tattooing sessions must be bloody painful on the pocket if nothing else .. "It kills" duly replied the man himself. Not having any tattoos myself, I am kind of inclined to agree, Scott not exactly looking like the kind of guy who would feel pain easily ! Like I say though, he was an extremely easy person to talk to and you can't say that of everyone you meet in bands !
The biggest prize however for sheer entertainment had to go to Pedro, the band's faithful long-time roadie / driver. I think that he must be a few plums short of the duff to be quite honest with you ! One of our number was certainly enticed by his offer of a 'smoke' whilst I have to say that I enjoyed the free beer that he later handed to me off-stage (cheers !). I must say however that his claim to be the real father of Ross & Jock took a little more convincing ! He pulled the pair of them together and was trying to convince me of the 'resemblance' between all three of them ! To be honest, I think that a few grey hairs and a propensity for drinking too much are about the only things that they have in common in their genes. To be fair though, Pedro is yet another extremely nice member of the GBH 'family', though perhaps I should avoid the use of the 'F*****' word in these particular circumstances, lest I add legitimacy to Pedro's claims of paternity.
With the two support bands done, and everyone now downstairs, the band calmly walked on-stage, tuned up briefly and the show began. For not the first time in my experience, they kicked off with the familiar chords to 'I Am The Hunted'. Needless to say, the (not inconsiderable) crowd entered into the usual dancing frenzy. What then followed was an excellent set, the like of which I hadn't quite heard before. Unlike previous occasions, slow numbers were played at their original speed rather than being annoyingly thrashed out and as a consequence, the set sounded really varied and powerful. I can't quite remember every song but I can certainly tell you about many of them. It wasn't long before the striking chords to 'Junkies' began and this sounded absolutely excellent live, to cap it all, Jock deftly added the extra final chord and feedback in almost identical style to the recorded version .. a nice touch.
For those who preferred the older stuff there would be no disappointment either, indeed, there were several classics in the set that I thought that I might never get to hear live. A swirling thumping on the toms had me a little confused at first until I realised that they had launched into 'Prayer Of A Realist' ! This nested nicely amongst the likes of 'No Survivors' and also 'Malice In Wonderland' .. dedicated for some reason to a certain William Jefferson Clinton. By this time, the crowd was well away and I asked Bev if she "still wanted to dance ?'" Funnily enough, she took one look at the tattooed and drunken slamming bodies at the front and declined my invitation, I just can't see why. Add to all this an excellent airing of 'Give Me Fire', 'Drugs Party In 526' 'Cryin On The Hard Shoulder' and 'I Need Energy' and you can imagine the kind of performance it was.
I couldn't quite decide between which were the two funniest moments of the show. It had to be a toss up between the guy who replaced Colin as singer and the moment when Jock was precariously balanced on someone's shoulders. Now Jock is not exactly a small guy, but at some point during ' .. Revenge', one of their roadies got down on all fours, stuck his head through the back of Jock's legs and slowly raised himself up lifting Jock several feet into the air. For a few minutes it was fine with Jock still (perhaps a little nervously), playing away merrily. Inevitably, fatigue set in and you could see the guy's knees beginning to go, a nasty accident was beginning to look a certainty ! As it happened, the guy did actually go down quite quickly .. after having wavered all over the stage but amazingly, Jock sort of landed on his back and continued to the end of the song, all without hitting a bum note. I think that the pair of them deserved a medal for that stunt ! In the second instance, there were of course one or two 'extra bodies' on-stage. You know how it is, the band gets going and hey presto, (providing the bouncers don't throw 'em off), there are always stage-divers and 'guests' at the microphone. Well tonight was of course no exception, there was one guy I have most certainly seen before at gigs to whom Colin handed the microphone during several songs. Well bugger me, I need the lyric sheet at the best of times when listening to GBH, but this guy was word perfect, poor old Colin was there leaning against the lighting tower looking exhausted whilst Pedro was giving me a bemused look of respect for the guy .. well if they ever need a stand-in then they know where to look.
In what seemed far too short a time (it wasn't but time sure does fly when you are having fun !), we were not only being treated to 'City Baby Attacked By Rats' (and the sequel ' .. Revenge' as previously mentioned), but to ''Race Against Time', 'Knife Edge', 'Freak' and all the usual end-of-show favourites from the band's early years .. still sounding as powerful as ever to boot. A brief exit to catch their breath so to speak and then the band returned to finish off with 'Moonshine' which just goes to show that you can't say that GBH don't play something different once in a while ! It was a good experience to see them, it was certainly one of their better shows and I can't wait until the next time.