The second best band to ever come out of Stourbridge (take that, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin), Pop Will Eat Itself are back in Manchester tonight celebrating the 30th anniversary of their final album with now posho composer Clint Mansell, Dos Dedos Mis Amigos. Well, we say celebrating it, it’s a strange one, as they’ve said that they are going to play only six of its original eleven tracks, not the whole thing which is the current norm for celebrating old records. They must really not like those other five songs, or in tonight’s case, it’s because there’s new material to be unleashed.
This is especially welcome news as, aside from a handful of singles over the last couple of years, we haven’t had a brand new album since 2015’s Anti-Nasty League, which seemed to fly completely below the radar, not getting the trumpeting of a proper release digitally until just two years ago.
Any night watching PWEI live has always been a night well spent. They are one of the few bands that I’ve seen on numerous, numerous occasions who have never once phoned it in. They are always a ball of infectious energy, led by original bandleader Graham Crabb, whose energy and enthusiasm for the band seems to never know no limits, these days fantastically aided by his vocalist sidekick, Mary Byker (from Gaye Bykers On Acid).
A quick scan of the crowd, and it looks like the venue has implemented a strict “no under 40s rule. Before 9:20 rolls around, the lights go down and the six-piece (three of whom have been there from the very beginnings) burst into the very rarely heard ‘The Incredible PWEI Vs Dirty Harry’ which serves as a perfect set opener, just enough to warm the crowd before hitting them with three older songs in quick succession in the form of ‘Karmadrome’, ‘PWEI-zation’ and the always humorous, Mr Brown sampling, should-have-been-a-single, ‘Not Now James, We’re Busy’.
New song ‘Disco Misfits’ manages to capture the classic sound of what’s gone before and fits into the set seamlessly, before the first surprise of the evening. “The power of collaboration, this one’s early”, says Crabb ahead of what has become their traditional set closer, their joint offering with The Prodigy, the government-baiting ‘Their Law’. It’s a great move on their part as I’ve often thought that they should be ending things with one of their own songs and it serves it’s purpose of getting the crowd continuing the bounce so early on.
(And on the topic of bouncing, a special mention for the little man in the Juventus top, who thought it was a great idea spending the song repeatedly punching my wife in the ribs, this behaviour at gigs is deplorable and should be called out more, if I’d realised it was happening I’d have certailnly done something about it. I hope your hangover was intolerable and you missed your last bus home.)
Anyway, back to the music, and time for the Dos Dedos six. I did try and predict which six they would be (only got five right; thought we’d get ‘Cape Connection’ instead of the surprising ‘Babylon’), and it’s during this section, especially the rumbling ‘Kick to Kill’ that it becomes obvious that it is, and as a 52 year old who was watched thousands of gigs so knows what to expect, just TOO LOUD. So much so, that the various band members become one big cacophony of unadulterated noise rather than individual instruments which gets a bit stodgy on the ears, before it sorts itself out ahead of rousing versions of ‘Everything’s Cool’ and the immense ‘RSVP’.
Their top 10 smash ‘Get The Girl! Kill The Baddies!’ welcomes in the post-DDMI section, before the as yet unreleased ‘Bruiser’, with it’s gloriously catchy chorus of (I think, did I mention it was really loud?) “I’m the black eye, black eye bruiser, you’re the red eye, red eye loser” surely marking it out as a future single.
We get the never-ending thrills of a snarling ‘Wise Up! Sucker’ and a pleasingly distorted ‘Def Con One‘, throughout which, bassist Davey grins constantly, as if he’s playing them for the first time, alongside keyboard destroyer Adam Mole, before the last new one of the evening in the form of ‘Vive Le Rok’. The always frenetic ‘Bulletproof’ and it’s “is everybody happy?” refrain looks to be the pre-encore closer but no-one’s told drummer Cliff, who goes straight into the rave-era loving exceptionally furious ‘Dance Of The Mad’ before they can eventually go offstage.
Usually, I would tut loudly at a one-song encore (what’s the point of going off then coming back on for just one more?), but jumping up and down for 90 minutes after a multitude of drinks (after watching Everton finally win a Premier League football match) has taken it out of this member of the crowd, means it’s a welcome bonus this evening, especially as it is in the form of singalong “Can U Dig It?”
So, tonight has shown us that PWEI are in even ruder health than usual, so it’s a shame that they’ve already announced that they are not going to be playing live for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, the reason is so they can get this new stuff on an album, as on this evidence, this will be a welcome addition to their already superb canon.
(Photos: Cheryl Doherty)
