 
Well I am looking forward to tonight, tonight
I get to see [Spunge] again, the last time I saw
them was back in 2006 and they where on top form.
Its just something about their catchy ska punk
rhythms and honest silly lyrics that make this
band stand out from the rest.
I arrive at the venue at what I thought was a
decent time of seven forgetting that it was a
Friday and that means early gig starts due to
club nights. So after finding out they’ve
changed to the bigger venue due to them selling
out and a bit of faffing to get my photo pass
I get up stairs just as the local support leave
the stage, unfortunately I missed all their set
and didn’t even get their name.
After a drink and a bit of a wait American band
Orange come out on stage to a warm reception.
Orange have been going for about 8 years or so
with many American and Canadian tours under their
belt. With this in mind it surprises me how they
don’t really perform amazingly. They’re
a pop punk style band which in places reminded
me of early Greenday with they’re vocal
harmonies and fast beats. Singer Joe Dexter has
a good voice that sounds like a cross between
Davey Havock and Johnny Rotten, which suit’s
the music well. The performance has a few gimmicks
and maybe if supporting a different band may have
gone down well but even with their singer change
half way through, the lights on the mic stand,
the megaphone and their cover of Help by The Beatles
they just don’t seem to impress the audience.
They performed well but just not good enough to
win over this crowd of people who are here for
some ska punk action. They rap their set up to
a nice round of applause and the odd shout of
“Get off the stage” .
In the break I take the time to remember all
the times I’ve seen [Spunge] in the past,
I first saw them first 10 years ago in a leisure
centre somewhere near Manchester, I had to travel
almost 2 hours to get their and it was worth it
they put on a great show and I was blown away
with their live show. I’ve seen them about
5 or 6 more times since and every time I’ve
been happy with the show. Since the last time
I saw them they’ve lost a member due to
personal reasons and have released another album
and supported bands like the Drop Kick Murphy’s
So I am anxious to see how they perform tonight.
The band come on stage to a warm reception from
this big crowd of both old and young, ranging
from 12 to 60 , which shows their huge appeal
over the ages. They kick into “Roots”
which goes down a storm and everyone is jumping
and getting into the show. They play through a
set which covers all 5 of their studio albums,
with classics such as “Friend Called Fred”
“Ego” and “Home Video”.
The crowd are loving their ska punk style and
are singing along to every word. Singer Alex Copeland
has some good banter with the crowd joking “people
say I remember seeing you years ago when I was
a kid and now I’m 36” with the bassist
Jarvis adding “people say to me are you
not dead yet? I can’t believe your still
alive!”. Alex and Jarvis continue the chit
chat between songs with Jarvis seeming to get
more mixed up with his remarks as the set carries
on with Alex remarking “you may have noticed
Jarv has had a drink tonight!”. The banter
is a key part of the of the [Spunge] show as it
relaxes the audience and gives them a short break
before they get their skanking shoes back on for
the next song. The set comes to an end with Kicking
Pigeons and the band says good night and exit’s
the stage to huge cheers and we think the night
is over. But the crowd keep chanting “More,
More, More!” and eventually [Spunge] re-appear
and inform the crowd how they have time for one
more but they haven’t played it in a while
so they may be a bit rusty and with that they
blast into a cover of “Oliver’s Army”
which sounds as good as it did on cd so they had
nothing to worry about. The song ends and the
crowd disband all impressed with the show.
I thought they played a great set but there seemed
to be something missing, I don’t know weather
its my nostalgic feelings or weather it’s
the fact their a man down but it wasn’t
as good as their early gigs I remembered. But
even though I wasn’t fully satisfied, I
was still impressed that they are still going
strong and their songs sound just as fresh as
they did ten years ago. But at the end of the
day the rest of the crowd loved them and walked
away happy with what they’d come to see.
Spunge - 4/5
Orange – 2.5/5
Review By James Daly
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