Multiple generations moshed with the legendary UK anarchopunks!
Three years after his last visit, Dick Lucas is back at Reading’s Facebar, fronting the legendary Subhumans. With their iconic logo, rapid-fire, hard-hitting lyrics and breakneck speed, crunching guitars, the band still stands out as one of the best anarcho-punk bands to come out of the early 80s. Considering the number of peacocked youngsters in the audience, it’s clear that their legacy has also reached a new generation!
Opening tonight are BarrelHaus, an alt-rock duo from Oxford. Traversing a similar furrow to Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, we are in Black Sabbath stoner rock territory here. The dual guitars and vocal sharing duties work well here, producing a solid wall of sound that makes them sound like a far bigger band. It’s all heavy riffs, neat little hooks and guttural vocals which blend seamlessly especially on songs such as ‘Red Flag’ and ‘Mayday’. Extra points for having a song called ‘Kerfuffle Shuffle’.
By the time Subhumans enter the fray, the space in front of the stage is packed with a mixture of old punks reliving past glories and a whole throng of Gen Z kids, eager to see what all the fuss is about. From the opening bars of ‘Apathy’ it’s clear that Dick has lost none of his anger, his semi-spoken/shouted vocals are instantly recognizable, backed by a pile-driving rhythm section and thrashy guitars. He relentlessly stomps around the stage for the entire set like a man half his age.
‘Get Out of my Way’ follows, and the pace rarely slows – every track is a short burst of angry punk rock, and the crowd is loving it, especially the youngsters who produce the best mosh pit since Discharge pummelled the venue’s sound system a few years back. The excellent ‘Too Fat Too Thin’ showcases what would become the sound of Dick’s next band Culture Shock with its ska beats. The last Subhumans album – ‘Crisis Point’ – was released in 2019, represented tonight by ‘Fear and Confusion’ and ‘Poison’. Sadly, the lyrics are even more valid now, as nothing has changed in the intervening years with the political situation becoming even more fraught, as the right continues its knuckle dragging rise…
Clocking in at over five minutes, ‘Wake Up Screaming’ is practically a punk prog rock epic, given the mid-song change of pace. While the set covers the band’s whole career, it is the closing rally of songs which really hit home. Pulled from the early EPs and ‘The Day the Country Died’, it provides a raucous end to the night, especially on live favourites ‘Mickey Mouse is Dead’, Black and White’, and set closer ‘Religious Wars’. This was a hot, sweaty gig and the frenzied enthusiasm that the youngsters brought to the pit raised everyone’s game. Brilliant stuff.
Dick will be returning to the Facebar at the end of November with Culture Shock. Tickets and more info from ace promoters Future Transmissions are HERE
I’ll be there, and going by tonight’s show, most of the audience will be back here as well!
Main Photo Credit / All Photos: IAN LADLOW
Videos: WILL SEWELL
- Apathy
- Get Out of my Way
- Animal
- Too Fat Too Thin
- Big City
- Work Rest Play Die
- Businessmen
- Fear and Confusion
- Reason for Existence
- Germ
- Poison
- Wake up Screaming
- Can’t Hear the Words
- Drugs of Youth
- Society
- Minority
- Mickey Mouse is Dead
- Black and White
- No
- Peroxide
- Religious Wars
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My first gig was The Damned at Hull City Hall a few days after my 16th birthday way back in the mid-eighties. 800 gigs and 1,700 bands later, my love of live music remains undiminished – the thrill of discovering a new band is still one of life’s greatest experiences. My musical tastes cover a wide spectrum, but punk and goth still dominate my listening habits.
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