Venue:
The Lexington, Islington
Date: 11/03/2023
I don’t listen much rock these days but the favourites of my youth still get the occasional play. Having seen Iron Maiden a couple of times at the Manchester Apollo when they were a big band and I was a huge teenage fan in the 80s I have no interest in seeing them in an enormodome now they’re an even bigger live act and my liking for them is more of a fond memory than an ongoing enthusiasm. So maybe this is they way forward for me and loud gigs? A bunch of old rockers playing some classic songs in small venues for the love of it.
So far as I can tell the Lust for Life tour which concludes tonight is the brainchild of Clem Burke, drummer for Blondie. He has recruited Sex Pistol (and current Blondie member) Glen Matlock on bass, ‘90s heartthrob Katie Puckrik on vocals and non-stop enthusiastic dancing, along with a couple of guitarists who have recorded with Iggy Pop and Heaven 17’s keyboard player. The setlist (I’ll post a photo in the comments) starts with Lust for Life played in order, and why not? It’s a superb set of songs and a brilliantly sequenced album, followed by a powerhouse selection of Iggy, Blondie, Sex Pistols and other numbers.
And a powerhouse sound it was, driven by Clem’s hard hitting drumming. Katie Puckrik has unveiled her inner rock goddess for the first time at the age of 60, and was the main focus, shimmying and gyrating in sequinned outfits. The only other band member to take any lead vocals was Glen, and by the time the encore came close to its end with Pretty Vacant he had the whole room chanting along before a ferocious Search and Destroy brought the night to its enormous conclusion.
The audience:
Mixed sex, broadly 50s to 60s. Not many young shavers that I could see. It’s a fair bet that most of us were there for these musicians the first time round (and many of us had the hots for Katie Puckrik in the 90s).
It made me think..
I still love a night out like this once in a while, but I will really have to look into getting ear protection for future shows. After the LFL set we retreated to the back of the small venue for the sake of our hearing. I’ve already got tinnitus and could live without it getting any worse thanks.
That set list (not my photo – pinched from Twitter)
I wonder what song 16 in the setlist was (i.e. the one that was comprehensively crossed out)?
Maybe The Passenger? That would’ve fit into the evening’s set quite nicely….
It’s already in there, in the middle of the LFL running order. I’ve wondered that too. The set list seems to be fixed and the set lists photocopied. I’ve seen a couple from different shows and they all have 16 redacted.
Of course it is – clearly I can’t read!
What else could no.16 have been? “God Save the Queen”? “Anarchy in the UK”?
I’ve tweeted Clem, Glen, Katie and the tour account to ask. Maybe now it can be told?
I saw the opening night of the tour in Bristol – great gig . Song 16 which they did play was the guitarist Kevin Armstrong singing the song he co-wrote with Bowie for Tin Machine. (The internet tells me it’s called ‘Run’) It was slow and dragged down the pace of the set so I am not particularly surprised it has been retired.
👍
Superb! Sounds like a great night!
I can imagine that was a proper blast!
As regards ear protection, I’d recommend you buy a set of ear plugs designed for clay shooters – I used to do a lot of clay pigeon shooting, and bought some earplugs for that, only to find that they were brilliant for over-loud gigs too.
What they do is to filter out the high transients – the supersonic crack of a shotgun firing for instance – while leaving the middle and lower registers largely intact. I think the pair I have cost me about £20 and you can find them in any branch of Mole Valley or one of the other agricultural retail outlets.
They are static devices – no batteries required, and easy to use. At a shoot/gig with them in your lugs you can still talk to folk normally without having to remove the things every time which is brill.
Thanks for the tip Foxy
It’s the simplest and most obvious thing in the world, but I’m constantly caught out by the irrefutable equation that states if I’m {this age now} then {famous person x} must be {my age} plus {however many years they were older than me the last time I thought about them}.
Top review – bit of a turn up that Glen Matlock is in Blondie now..
He was on stage with them on tour last year.
Gosh! I’d love to hear Katie Puckrick sing Some Weird Sin. Isn’t she great. When she started on The Word, she was a few years younger than me. Now, she must be fifteen years behind me.
Sounds like a wonderful gig. Clem Burke is one of the most dynamic drummers I’ve ever witnessed. He won’t let up the energy.
I saw the show in Hebden Bridge. Katie really was the surprise, belting out Iggy’s tunes and more.
Great review that made me check if they were doing a Dublin gig.
Fuck.
They were on last Weds – the night i flew back from the UK and could probably have got a ticket
Same here @Jaygee. Fuck indeed. I checked out a video of Pretty Vacant (might be from the gig Gatz attended) and it sounds fab and looks like great fun. I’ll be watching out for their next tour, should there be one. A Limerick or Galway date would be mighty. Another fine recommendation from @Gatz.
There are a handful of vids from various dates but none from the London ones I can see, though there were a couple of professional cameras there. Here’s the end of the encore from the Dublin gig with a guest appearance by BP Fallon.
I remember Katie Puckrik from back in the day – she always seemed over-qualified and too good for The Word, particularly when Terry Christian was at his worst and the show was doing some awful shtick – probably involving Oliver Reed or somebody who was “edgy”.
A year or two ago, she presented a very good two-part doc for the Beeb on yacht rock, and came across as a genuine music lover, and not a hired hack reading someone else’s lines. Good to hear she’s found a new niche.
And she was a dancer on the Pet Shop Boys’ groundbreaking Performance Tour in 1991. Multi-talented.
I saw that yacht rock thing. Very good. I didn’t click she’s the same person.
Katie liked one of my tweets and Glen Matlock started following me. I can retire happy.
(I thought you retired ten years ago – Ed.)
Bit creepy – how did GM find out where you live?
2024 TOUR KLAXON!
After this year’s sell out dates a small list of shows has been announced for early 2024. I know some here were sorry to miss this show last time, but alas no Ireland date that I can see. The venues are a bit bigger (the Islington O2 rather than 2 nights at the Lexington for London) but still at the smaller end of the scale.
https://www.lustforlifetour.com/tour