Glen Matlock And The Philistines
The Bowery,36 New Oxford Street, London WC1
10th Feb 2011
It's a packed out and sweaty club gig for The Philistines first London
show of 2011. The Bowery is a newish venue, on the borders of
Soho and Holbourn, with a bar and a downstairs, which is like a
cellar with a stage. As it only holds about a 100 or so its fuckin'
rammed. As they fuck about with the stage I stand at the front with
a couple of mates and stay there all gig, even though I wuz bustin for
a piss, (Why does that always fuckin' happen at gigs? Ha!!). It
didn’t get any better after James Stephenson handed me a bottle
of Becks to swig on, I had little chance of getting out very quick
least of all getting back in!!! By the time the band take the stage its
boiling hot and expectations are high. They start with title track off
the new album, 'Born Running'. The sound is great. Very upfront,
loud and tight with the band only inches from us in the packed out
front row. Next up is 'Somewhere Somehow', the backing vocals are
good with the added bonus of a bit of eye candy with Tracie Hunter
and Elizabeth Westwood on stage right, but not too loud. After
dedicating 'Timebomb' to the best dressed punter in the house, I
knew it anyway, but hey all recognition is good cheers Glen, Ha!!.
Glen gets the crowd to help out on 'Hard Work', with a catchy chorus its easy to get a sing-a-long
going. 'Get What We Get' and the ever popular 'Idiot', complete with a bit more audience singing
along, are followed by a new track; 'Hey Mister' which was debuted the previous week in Wales
and gets a good reaction, Ive not heard it before though? Matlock’s vocals sound really good live,
he's actually not a bad front man and has plenty of banter with the crowd. After a tune-up we get
'Nowheresville', 'Yeah Right' (with audience participation) and for me the best song on the album
with a fuckin' great catchy chorus, 'Way To Go'. Next up Matlock dedicates 'Rock Chick' to a few of
the birds in the audience, to their delight, that’s an old trick but it always works!!! Then 'On
Something', a great song from the previous album, an older one 'Rattle Your Cage' finishes a
cracking set. The band all try to walk off, but theres not much chance of getting anywhere as its
packed and so they get back on to the stage. There's a guy in the audience who has a Rich Kids
t-shirt on which Matlock picks up on and so they play a fuckin' brilliant 'Burning Sounds'. It didn’t
look like they wanted to stop so before the DJ started to play again they did a superb version of
'Steppin Stone' and that was it.
The band were fuckin' great tonight, you always get a good gig when they look relaxed and enjoyin
things. A 75 mins set with ten of the first twelve songs played from Glen’s excellent recent album
"Born Running". It really does make you wonder, if Rotten had ever got his fat lazy ass out of his
Bel Air mansion wot mite have been!!!!!!!!!!!!........
PAUL K. (Bristol)
The Bowery,36 New Oxford Street, London WC1
10th Feb 2011
It's a packed out and sweaty club gig for The Philistines first London
show of 2011. The Bowery is a newish venue, on the borders of
Soho and Holbourn, with a bar and a downstairs, which is like a
cellar with a stage. As it only holds about a 100 or so its fuckin'
rammed. As they fuck about with the stage I stand at the front with
a couple of mates and stay there all gig, even though I wuz bustin for
a piss, (Why does that always fuckin' happen at gigs? Ha!!). It
didn’t get any better after James Stephenson handed me a bottle
of Becks to swig on, I had little chance of getting out very quick
least of all getting back in!!! By the time the band take the stage its
boiling hot and expectations are high. They start with title track off
the new album, 'Born Running'. The sound is great. Very upfront,
loud and tight with the band only inches from us in the packed out
front row. Next up is 'Somewhere Somehow', the backing vocals are
good with the added bonus of a bit of eye candy with Tracie Hunter
and Elizabeth Westwood on stage right, but not too loud. After
dedicating 'Timebomb' to the best dressed punter in the house, I
knew it anyway, but hey all recognition is good cheers Glen, Ha!!.
Glen gets the crowd to help out on 'Hard Work', with a catchy chorus its easy to get a sing-a-long
going. 'Get What We Get' and the ever popular 'Idiot', complete with a bit more audience singing
along, are followed by a new track; 'Hey Mister' which was debuted the previous week in Wales
and gets a good reaction, Ive not heard it before though? Matlock’s vocals sound really good live,
he's actually not a bad front man and has plenty of banter with the crowd. After a tune-up we get
'Nowheresville', 'Yeah Right' (with audience participation) and for me the best song on the album
with a fuckin' great catchy chorus, 'Way To Go'. Next up Matlock dedicates 'Rock Chick' to a few of
the birds in the audience, to their delight, that’s an old trick but it always works!!! Then 'On
Something', a great song from the previous album, an older one 'Rattle Your Cage' finishes a
cracking set. The band all try to walk off, but theres not much chance of getting anywhere as its
packed and so they get back on to the stage. There's a guy in the audience who has a Rich Kids
t-shirt on which Matlock picks up on and so they play a fuckin' brilliant 'Burning Sounds'. It didn’t
look like they wanted to stop so before the DJ started to play again they did a superb version of
'Steppin Stone' and that was it.
The band were fuckin' great tonight, you always get a good gig when they look relaxed and enjoyin
things. A 75 mins set with ten of the first twelve songs played from Glen’s excellent recent album
"Born Running". It really does make you wonder, if Rotten had ever got his fat lazy ass out of his
Bel Air mansion wot mite have been!!!!!!!!!!!!........
PAUL K. (Bristol)
Band Line Up
Glen Matlock – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Jim Lowe – Bass
Javier Weyler – Drums
James Stephenson – Lead Guitar
Tracie Hunter , Elizabeth Westwood – Backing Vocals
Set List: "Born Running","Somewhere Somehow","
Timebomb","Hard Work","Trouble","Get What We
Get","Idiot",new song "Hey Mister","Nowheresville","
Yeah Right", "Way To Go","Rock Chick","On
Something" , "Rattle Your Cage".Encores were
"Burning Sounds" and "Steppin Stone".
Glen Matlock – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Jim Lowe – Bass
Javier Weyler – Drums
James Stephenson – Lead Guitar
Tracie Hunter , Elizabeth Westwood – Backing Vocals
Set List: "Born Running","Somewhere Somehow","
Timebomb","Hard Work","Trouble","Get What We
Get","Idiot",new song "Hey Mister","Nowheresville","
Yeah Right", "Way To Go","Rock Chick","On
Something" , "Rattle Your Cage".Encores were
"Burning Sounds" and "Steppin Stone".