Saturday night July 25th brought the return of two things Seattle hasn’t seen in a long time — rain and Stiff Little Fingers. The rain and cooler weather did nothing to prevent the swelter inside the tiny El Corazon caused by both poor ventilation and the onstage energy of the band reciprocated by the packed audience.
Belfast’s SLF came on stage amid raucous cheers and immediately lit into Nobody’s Hero. The moshing began immediately and I was just as immediately slammed into the barricade several times. Nobody’s Hero was immediately followed by At the Edge, then my favorite, Roots, Radicals, Rockers & Reggae. This seemed to be a lot of other people’s favorite too judging by how fiercely and frequently I kept getting slammed into the barricade.
Front man Jake Burns spoke of his bout with depression and how friends and family helped him through it. This led into their brand new song off their first album in 11 years (released last year) called My Dark Places.
Later Jake paid homage to the Clash, in particular the Clash’s legendary front man, Joe Strummer. with their song Strummerville, which nearly everyone sang along to.
Throughout the show bass player Ali McMordie never stayed in one spot for more than a few seconds. He ran back and froth from left to right and to the front of the stage to rile up the crowd and to the back again. When guitarist Ian McCallum donned an acoustic guitar, Ali quipped that even though it was an acoustic guitar the song was still punk. Jake then talked about the wide spread sex abuse by Catholic priests leading into another new song Guilty As Sin, aimed directly at the offending priests and people’s blind allegiance to their religion. All the while drummer Steve Grantley slammed away as if possessed, sweat dripping from every pore.
Then no SLF concert would be complete without Barb Wire Love, a smarmy song reminiscent of old fifties American love songs, but with a punk edge.
Shortly thereafter the show was over. But not to despair, after a brief absence the band returned for an encore of Wasted Life. The moshing that occurred previously was tame compared to what ensued for this song. One dude who kept slamming into me, then patted me on the back apologetically each time. Seriously, these punk shows are where I’ve encountered the friendliest, kindest people. Wasted Life was followed by Alternative Ulster and the band left the stage for the night. There was nothing left to do but limp out once again into the Seattle drizzle. I have now lost count as to how many concerts I’ve attended in July.
There were two supporting acts prior to SLF, but I was unaware Seattle’s annual Torchlight Parade was happening and all streets heading east toward the club were blocked off. I couldn’t use my usual exit and ended up driving all over downtown Seattle in the opposite direction of where I needed to be headed. I spent an entire hour trying to find a way to get to the club. As a result I missed Kids On Fire. Word of mouth from many in attendance were that they rocked it. I’ve seen them once before and was favorably impressed. But I did arrive shortly after Dreadful Children started their set. Front man Lonnie Bristle wore his blond spikes sticking out in all directions belying his on stage charm. They played some new songs as well as old favorites, always ending with Pink Elephants On Parade. Lizzie Franks joined the band about a year ago and adds her sweet and succulent voice to the whacky punk with catchy riffs these rough and tumble very punk lads bring to Dreadful Children. They are always a pleasure and have really grown and evolved as a band in the four years I’ve been seeing them play.
– All photographs property of Holly Homan, all rights reserved.
