 The
Popes are the main support for The Stranglers
tonight and I can’t think of a more perfect
band to support them on this St Patricks day gig,
The Popes spent their earlier years with former
Pogues frontman Shane MacGowen fronting them but
over recent years have had Paul (Mad Dog) mcGuinness
fronting them and what a frontman he is with his
skinhead biker look and cocky on stage swagger.
During their 30 minute set The Popes played a
great selection of Irish folk music it was  upbeat
and fun from start to finish and I have to say
that Ben Gummy was absolutely amazing on the fiddle
and really gave the crowd reason to dance like
nutters to his fast paced playing, Mad Dog spent
a lot of time talking to the crowd about various
different things and gained a huge cheer when
he introduced the song ‘Don’t Let
The Bastards Grind You Down’.
As a support act The Popes were fun and got the
crowd warmed up but I did start to wonder just
how the band would go down in a headline environment.
 The
Stranglers took to the stage at 9.20pm and came
on to their usual ‘Watlzinblack’ introduction
and the first thing I noticed as the band took
to the stage was that Jett black was missing and
their drum tech was situated behind the drums
instead but Baz Warne soon touched on the matter
when he spoke to the crowd and said “Sadly
Jett Black is not with us tonight as he is ill”
this was met with a weird reaction from the crowd
but Warne soon snapped back saying “shut
the fuck up and let me finish” before explaining
that “Jett black is currently unwell but
his guitar tech is behind the drums tonight and
is fantastic and has been teching for the band
for the past 20 years” this was met with
loud cheers and the show carried on in a positive
way.
 The
set that The Stranglers played featured 24 songs
many of them classics such as ‘Burning Up
Time’, ‘No More Heroes’, ‘Golden
Brown’ etc but the band also managed to
squeeze 4 tracks from their recently released
17th studio album ‘Gaints’ in and
each of those tracks went down extremely well
with ‘Mercury Rising’ getting the
biggest response out of all the new tracks.
JJ Burnel had a serious look on his face for the
whole show like he was paid to not smile but at
the same time he was at the top of his game and
got his swagger on moving across the stage with
some nifty footwork whilst knocking out those
tasty basslines that made The Stranglers who they
are  today,
Dave Greenfield was situated to the back of the
stage and pretty much out of view due to the amount
of keyboards in front of him but that didn’t
matter to the fans as he knocked out those synths
to perfection.
During the show The Stranglers managed to fit
24 tracks in and played 2 encores and left the
stage to massive cheers, in my eyes The Stranglers
were just as good as when I saw them in Birmingham
back in March 2010 but the only downside of the
night was knowing that Jett Black had to sit the
show out due to being ill but I am sure he will
be back behind the drums in no time.
The Popes 3/5
The Stranglers 4/5
Review By Trigger
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