Fag Enablerz, Smokey Bastard, Re'bel, VX
- live @ the Warzone Centre, Belfast, 29/09/12
The Warzone is a great wee place with a very friendly atmosphere, and a really good vibe .You would be hard pressed to find a more relaxed audience of ' old & young punks, gay's & straights, hippies,crusties, oap's and roller derby girls' hanging out in any other venue in Belfast. Its a really sound place to spend a Saturday night (or any other night for that matter!). Since last weeks unexpectedly very successful 'Culture Night' hit & run unplugged exploits, a lot of good will has come VX's way. So expectations were high for tonights first new line up electric performance, and I'm happy to report that the boys delivered and lived up to the media blitz hype. Yeah! things weren't alway's perfect, but by the time they've completed their current run of seven live commitments 'VX' will be on-fire.
'VX' went down well with the 'Warzone' crowd, and the whole band were obviously delighted by the positve reception their mostly self penned and currently un-familiar set recieved, as this was their plugged in live debut. 'VX' are a very young, and extremely confident teenage band, its hard to believe how good they are already and that the core of this brand new version have been together for just over three months. They're not the finished article just yet, but I'd say it's dead cert that 'VX' are only going to get better & better with time and experience. Check them out asap & watch this space.
'Re'bel' are a reformed early 80's NI punk band, who were a surprise last minute addition to the bill. Being sandwiched between the youthful exuberence and adrenaline rush of 'VX' and the manic off the wall folk / punk shenanigans of 'Smokey Bastard' was never going to be an easy ride , but I enjoyed their old school set of originals, mashed up with a couple of Clash / SLF covers and a great rendition of 'Ace of Spades' by Motorhead.
Up until a few weeks ago I'd never heard of 'Smokey Bastard' ................
I never thought for a minute that I'd enjoy listening to a live set made up of sea shanties, punk rock, poetry and ye olde english folk tunes , well I did!. At times they sounded like The Pogues, Dropkick Murphy's, Flogging Molly, The Urban Voodoo Machine and more surprisingly an old favourite of ours Anti Flag'. Any band who could encore with a punked up folk cover of the 'ABBA' classic 'Mamma Mia' has to be something special ' The crowd loved them , 'Smokey Bastard' were great craic. Their show at the 'The Store House' bar in Antrim will be another cracker. and our pal 'Aidan (Stiff Little Busker) Doherty' will be supporting them.
Finally it was left to 'Fag Enablerz' to close the show , and they took their time to get started. They were a big hit at the recent 'Warzone Festival', but to be honest they weren't my thing .Though to be fair they had their fans here tonight , but I found the band hard going. I stayed with their wall of noise and screaming for three songs , then decided this was not for me and headed home. Nighty! Night!
One last word I'd Just like to thank 'James' and all the 'Epic tour' & 'Warzone' crew for having VX it was a cool night. Hopefully they can do it again sometime very soon.
Courtesy of the 'Joe Donnelly' facebook page 30.9.12.
'VX' went down well with the 'Warzone' crowd, and the whole band were obviously delighted by the positve reception their mostly self penned and currently un-familiar set recieved, as this was their plugged in live debut. 'VX' are a very young, and extremely confident teenage band, its hard to believe how good they are already and that the core of this brand new version have been together for just over three months. They're not the finished article just yet, but I'd say it's dead cert that 'VX' are only going to get better & better with time and experience. Check them out asap & watch this space.
'Re'bel' are a reformed early 80's NI punk band, who were a surprise last minute addition to the bill. Being sandwiched between the youthful exuberence and adrenaline rush of 'VX' and the manic off the wall folk / punk shenanigans of 'Smokey Bastard' was never going to be an easy ride , but I enjoyed their old school set of originals, mashed up with a couple of Clash / SLF covers and a great rendition of 'Ace of Spades' by Motorhead.
Up until a few weeks ago I'd never heard of 'Smokey Bastard' ................
I never thought for a minute that I'd enjoy listening to a live set made up of sea shanties, punk rock, poetry and ye olde english folk tunes , well I did!. At times they sounded like The Pogues, Dropkick Murphy's, Flogging Molly, The Urban Voodoo Machine and more surprisingly an old favourite of ours Anti Flag'. Any band who could encore with a punked up folk cover of the 'ABBA' classic 'Mamma Mia' has to be something special ' The crowd loved them , 'Smokey Bastard' were great craic. Their show at the 'The Store House' bar in Antrim will be another cracker. and our pal 'Aidan (Stiff Little Busker) Doherty' will be supporting them.
Finally it was left to 'Fag Enablerz' to close the show , and they took their time to get started. They were a big hit at the recent 'Warzone Festival', but to be honest they weren't my thing .Though to be fair they had their fans here tonight , but I found the band hard going. I stayed with their wall of noise and screaming for three songs , then decided this was not for me and headed home. Nighty! Night!
One last word I'd Just like to thank 'James' and all the 'Epic tour' & 'Warzone' crew for having VX it was a cool night. Hopefully they can do it again sometime very soon.
Courtesy of the 'Joe Donnelly' facebook page 30.9.12.