They say that old punks never die and as if to prove that statement we are at Rock City tonight to welcome back the Skids, the latest of that generation to reform. They have dabbled with minor reformation in the past but this time it’s for real, with a full UK tour to celebrate their 40th anniversary and there’s even a new album ‘Burning Cities’ in the offing.
Also still around, and from the same era, are support act Angelic
Upstarts. We only catch the end of their set, so it would be unfair to comment
on them really, only to say that they went down very well with the crowd.
Of course there is one old punk who sadly disproves that statement.
Obviously Stuart Adamson can’t be here but original members Richard Jobson and William
Simpson are, along with drummer Mike Baillie who joined the band a few albums
in.
As the band opening with ‘Animation’ one thing was absolutely
clear, that Jobson had certainly not lost the desire to not only throw himself
into every song but around the stage too.
The question was could he last the distance. As he windmilled
his way through ‘Of One Skin’ and ‘Melancholy Soldiers’ it was clear that he
was certainly going to give it a damn good go.
Thereby followed an all-inclusive run through of the band’s singles
and better known album tracks, with the likes of ‘Working For The Yankee Dollar’ and ‘The
Saints Are Coming’ going down particularly well.
Stepping into Adamson’s very large shoes tonight was, rather
appropriately, his former Big Country band mate Bruce Watson. As Jobson paid
tribute to Adamson prior to ‘Scared to Dance’, Rock City erupted in a huge
round of applause in his memory.
Watson had brought with him his son, Jamie, to play rhythm
guitar and also to become target of a mid-set sing along of ‘Ed Sheeran is a
wanker’, as he does bear a passing resemblance.
Back to the music and there was little you could think of
that the band didn’t play, from début single ‘Charles’ through to the epic ‘The
Olympian’ with Jobson still going strong. I was sort of worried he would
collapse and I think he was too, admitting he was knackered and not quite his old
younger self any more. Then he was off into motion again with another one legged
scissor kick, only occasionally grabbing a sneaky rest as he delivered one of his
engaging but often unfathomable anecdotes about the band.
The finale was stunning. The excellent ‘A Woman In Winter’
lead into ‘Circus Games’, then ‘Masquerade’ before they finished with ‘Into the
Valley’.
They return quickly to play ‘Charade’ and then the song that
Jobson threatened not to play if anyone badgered him for it. Namely ‘TV Stars’,
the original flipside to ‘Into The Valley’, revamped slightly with Boris
Johnson and Theresa May included in the lyrics but still (obviously) with it’s
singalong ‘Albert Tatlock’ chorus.
They return for a second time and reprise 'Of One Skin'
claiming they’ve run out of material. It’s perhaps slightly odd that they
refrain from previewing anything from their new album but I suppose tonight is
really all about the last 40 years.
Now I am no hard core Skids fan but tonight was pretty
special. Welcome back to the best (and only) punk band from Scotland, so says Jobson’s
mother anyway.
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