Two top Aussie bands plus London punks Rifle had the Camden venue's pit seething on a Sunday night!
It’s always a good sign when it’s difficult to tell who’s more up for a great gig – the bands, or the crowd. It’s a damp Sunday night near the end of the year, but to hell with any kind of pre-Christmas slowdown; everyone here is hungry for Punk Rock ‘n’ Roll action, and my goodness, are they in the right place at the right time.
It’s rare that we’ve seen an opening band ignite a pit as large and chaotic as the one which bursts into action as soon as Rifle hit the stage. The London quintet certainly deserve it – they’re easily the most intense band of the night, ripping through the likes of ‘Under Two Flags’ and ‘Warfare’ even more fast and furiously than on record (if that is indeed possible), demolishing eardrums and hecklers alike in the process.
A mid-set rendition of The Business’s ‘Drinking And Driving’ gives us a chance for a breather and a singalong, but otherwise, these guys are fucking relentless – and we wouldn’t have them any other way.
The Prize come across as both a band and a gang – y’know, like The Ramones did? The Melbourne crew nabbed my Gig Of The Year award last year with a storming headline set at the Shacklewell Arms, and tonight, they do themselves proud once again.
How Nadine manages to simultaneously drum so maniacally and sing note-perfectly is beyond us, but ultimately, we’re too busy grooving along to the swoonsome power-pop of ‘Easy Way Out’ to figure out her secret. Unsurprisingly for a band that boast three guitarists, they sound massive, and as they close with the recently-released ‘Had It Made’, it’s clear that they’re getting even better with time. Ones to watch in 2025, for sure.
Here’s hoping Santa has something special for The Chats this year. After all, the Queensland trio could easily have just done one big show up the road at the Roundhouse, but instead they opted for a three-night stand at the more intimate Electric Ballroom.
Gloriously irreverent as ever, there’s not so much as an intro tape as they arrive onstage and vocalist/bassist Eamon asks us if we’d like them to play some songs. Why, indeed, sir, that would be fabulous – how about 25 of them? No problem, as it turns out.
By now, the place is packed to the rafters, and from the second they tear into ‘Nambored’ the pit seethes, writhes and generally goes mental. There’s no great mystery to what The Chats do, and therein lies the appeal; they just get up there and blast through a succession of short, fast, loud and insanely catchy tunes in the manner that would make the likes of the Descendents proud. Be the subject matter cars (‘6L GTR’), cigarettes (‘The Price Of Smokes’) or a good meal (‘Pub Feed’), everything is dispatched with zero pretension and maximum enthusiasm.
It all ends with members of The Prize and Rifle returning to the stage to join the trio for a joyous rendition of AC/DC’s ‘Highway To Hell’; an anthem written by, and now covered by, a bunch of lovable Aussie rogues with an everyman spirit. They thank us all for coming out, but the pleasure is ours – Sunday nights are rarely this much fun.
Main Photo Credit / All Photos: ALEX GOOSE
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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