Undercover Promotions put on a memorable gig to set sleepy Surrey town Esher jumping!
Can you believe it’s been 45 years since The RuTs released their second album ‘Grin & Bear It‘? Promising a set to include several rarely-played songs from the album, RuTs DC hit the road in November 2025 on a short UK tour. Second stop was the unlikely town of Esher, a place better known for its famous former inhabtants, including The Beatles‘ George Harrison, rock musician Eric Clapton, The Bee Gees‘ Maurice Gibb and former Chelsea footballer John Terry..
Fortunately, Undercover Promotions saw potential for Punk shows in the town’s Theatre, and decided to put on an inaugural gig there on Saturday 22nd November. Arriving early to help with load-in, I took a first look at the stage and setup, and was most impressed!
With the main venue space filling up nicely after a visit to the bar, local hero Joe Bitter kicks off the evening’s entertainment with his solo acoustic guitar/vocal performance. Introduced by our compere for the show, local radio DJ Keith Woodhouse, Joe plays a set rich with his own songs; highlights include ‘Addicted to Hate‘ from his most recent album, and a song he was asked to write by our friend Jim from AlteredNatives, ‘Fuck The Tories‘ – with Jim in attendance, it is of course dedicated to him!
The crowd love Joe’s spot-on, say-it-like-it-is, sing along anthems. We are all delighted to also hear two Emergency Bitter songs to conclude his set, and we roar along to ‘Made In Britain‘ and ‘Cider, Football, Punk Rock‘. Here’s a video of ‘Rise Up‘ from mid-set, written about the cost of living crisis due to deliberate economic instability in the system, which the poor are always forced to pay for:
As part of their album launch tour for sixth studio album ‘IZZATSO?‘, it’s a treat to have WitchDoktors play, and they are on fine form tonight! Starting with the opening song from the new album, ‘Lightning Strike‘, guitarist Tony, bassist Lee, drummer Joe and lead vocalist / guitarist Andy seize the crowd in their hands from the first note.
The band include a few classic ‘Doks songs in the set; ‘No Pain No Gain‘, ‘Jackhammer‘, ‘Brothers‘ and ‘Voodoo Eye‘, (which hasn’t graced the set list for a while) but it’s mostly filled with songs from ‘IZZATSO?‘, naturally! Here’s another, ‘High Dry & Burned‘, played live at Esher Theatre:
Some album tracks are already live favourites; ‘Planet of Pain‘ and ‘Spanner in the Works‘ both appear again tonight. It’s fantastic to hear WitchDoktors play the Reggae-based ‘Freedom Fighter‘ live at last, plus the ballad of the disingenuous ‘Jezebel‘, who meets her deserved fate:
Ending with sing-along favourite ‘Before the War‘, it’s an absolutely cracking set from the ‘Doks, who take a bow to rapturous cheers and applause!
With plenty of fan T-shirts evident amongst the ample audience, RuTs DC enter to loud cheers to play their first ever Esher show. Segs, Ruffy and Leigh are off to a flying start with ‘Vox Teardrop‘ from their 2016 album ‘Music Must Destroy‘, followed by the ever-popular ‘Something That I Said‘ from The RuTs‘ 1979 debut album ‘The Crack‘. The crowd are lapping it up, as the band bounce into the skankin’ ‘Mighty Solidier‘, and remind us in ‘SUS‘ about the ‘stop and search law’ which unfairly targeted Black communities.
Our attention is drawn to Mr Ruffy’s shiny new green sparkle 1971 Ludwig drum kit – it sounds as sweet as it looks! Next comes a song many of us have been waiting to hear live for a very long time – the tribal drum beats and crazy guitar of ‘Demolition Dancing‘, our first surprise from ‘Grin & Bear It‘, and we go suitably wild:
Introducing “A song written to remember both Paul Fox and Malcolm Owen“, original RuTs members along with Segs and Ruffy, the crowd are calmer as the beautiful ‘Too Much‘ floats across them. I’m singing along quietly at the back from my video vantage point, but return to the front to join in with the equally haunting ‘Born Innocent‘.
The older hits return with ‘Backbiter‘ and ‘Love In Vain‘, which segues perfectly into another seldom-heard RuTs song, ‘Give Youth A Chance‘.
Dropping in both the title track and ‘Faces In The Sky‘ from RuTs DC‘s most recent studio album ‘CounterCulture?‘ proves that the band have never lost their knack for writing catchy, relevant songs. We witness Segs at his most menacing, snarling out the lyrics to ‘Secret Soldier‘, another rarely-played track from ‘Grin & Bear It‘. I retreat to the back of the hall in time to capture it on video:
Crowd favourite ‘West One (Shine On Me)‘ gets the crowd all riled up again, we loudly sing the chorus of ‘Kill The Pain‘, then Segs berates politicians for playing their ‘Poison Games‘.
No RuTs DC gig would be complete without a triple whammy of ‘Jah War‘ and their signature song ‘In A Rut‘, during which Segs pays verbal tribute to the late Stone Roses bass player Mani, who died unexpectedly just two days ago. “I’m not even going to try to play any of his bass lines” declares Segs, “that’s beyond me!” Of course we also throw ourselves around as madly to The RuTs‘ ‘Babylon’s Burning‘ as we do to the other two!
That’s been a long, long set from the headliners, and Keith isn’t sure if RuTs DC will reappear for an encore.. amusingly they leave him hanging for several minutes, but revisit the stage just in time to avoid our compere’s attempt to tell a joke!
The encore starts with a speech from esteemed drummer, Mr David Ruffy, a powerhouse behind the kit despite his 73 years and a bionic knee. He’s impatient to get the other knee replaced, as he has no intention of retiring from the drum stool any time soon – good man! Segs dedicates ‘Pretty Lunatics‘ to us fans, then the show ends with a thunderous ‘Staring At the Rude Boys‘ which sees the mosh pit at its biggest and wildest yet. Make sure you catch RuTs DC at one of their remaining 2025 shows – dates below:
Main Photo Credit All Photos & Videos: RUTH RAE
29th Nov – Waterfront, Norwich
30th Nov – The Garage, London
2nd Dec – Thekla, Bristol
3rd Dec – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
6th Dec – Mash, Cambridge
7th Dec – Crescent, York
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