So, the Buzzcocks performing three sets firstly with their current line-up, then with their 'classic' line-up, and finishing up with their original line-up (featuring Howard Devoto) seems too good to miss right? I thought so anyway, and being absolutely determined not to miss a bally moment, I arrived at a somewhat sparsely populated Brixton Academy at about 7.30pm. No problem - gave me time for a pint.
A DJ who looked unsettlingly like Peter Buck (but wasn't) played a pretty inspired selection of punk and post-punk classics. It turned out that this was actually veteran music journalist and author Kris Needs. He did get a cheer when The Clash's White Man In Hammersmith Palais got stuck and he swiftly managed to remedy the situation.
At 8.15pm four shadowy figures loped onto the stage, and the current line-up of the Buzzcocks tore into What Am I Supposed To Do from the All Set album. Steve Diggle is still a complete guitar hero, making an immediate connection with the audience. Pete Shelley has a somewhat less animated stage presence, whilst the rhythm section give a workman-like performance. The more recent songs (and by that I mean post-1990) compare well with the songs from the band's heyday, but frankly they're not what the audience have come to hear, and gradually people start disappearing to the bar and not coming back. It's actually a bit of a relief when this section of the gig ends. This is not really the band's fault, but the material in the first set was probably unknown to the greater part of the audience. Still, I suppose they got the kind of response that most support bands receive.
The second set is a completely different story. If the Academy isn't sold-out it gives a damn fine impersonation of somewhere that is. The contrast between the performances of the two line-ups is astonishing. You realise in retrospect that bassist Chris Remmington in particular looked as if he was just doing a job. He could almost have been playing The Birdy Song for all the enthusiasm that he conveyed. Steve Garvey's stage presence in comparison is only slightly less flamboyant than Steve Diggle's! John Maher definitely appears to be feeling the music, and his drumming in Moving Away From The Pulsebeat is superlative.
Something else that hits you is the sheer quality of the Buzzcocks' back catalogue. Not only did they have an impressive run of singles between 1977 and 1979, the album tracks they play could also have been singles: Fiction Romance, Fast Cars, Hollow Inside, Get On Our Own and Autonomy to name a few. Then there's the singles that have become classics: I Don't Mind, What Do I Get?, and Everybody's Happy Nowadays get given a good seeing-to. There's even the latter day hit that wasn't: Why She's A Girl From The Chainstore from 1980.
Pete Shelley seemed less entertained by Steve Diggle's antics than the audience was. Somebody chucked a plastic pint glass onstage and Diggle asked him to come up onstage if he was so brave, and he'd "wrap one of these champagne bottles around yer head". It did appear that he got through two bottles of champagne during the course of the gig, and he was noticeably more pissed as it progressed. Still - it didn't affect his singing or playing, and he windmilled like Pete Townshend! The classic line-up finished their main set and encored with Harmony In My Head, Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) and Orgasm Addict.
Now it was the turn of the original line-up (comprising Pete Shelley on guitar, Steve Diggle on bass, John Maher on drums and Howard Devoto on vocals) to perform the Spiral Scratch EP. Pete Shelley used the guitar (now missing about a third of its body) that he used for the recording of the EP. I don't know whether it's age, but Howard Devoto's vocals sound much richer than in the past. They still suit the songs though, Breakdown and Boredom working particularly well. They encore with what sounds like I Can't Control Myself bringing an excellent gig to an end.
However, this may have been a worrying evening for Shelley and Diggle, as there is a definite gulf in terms of quality between the current and classic Buzzcocks line-ups. I don't know what Garvey and Maher are doing for a living now but playing in the Buzzcocks must be a lot more fun, and probably just as lucrative. Well lads? How about it?
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