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Review and photographs by Phil Singleton
The Gathering 2011 – Celebrating 30 Years of Mike Peters and The Alarm. The two day event was a sell out. Mike Peters certainly has a dedicated following – the fans here love him. Glen has worked with Mike previously in Dead Men Walking, and Philistines guitarist James Stevenson also performs with The Alarm, so The Philistines appearance on the Saturday night made perfect sense. Sex Pistols T-shirts were plentiful amongst the crowd, and the opportunity to see a Sex Pistol was a big bonus for a large majority of attendees. The Philistines took to the stage in the Red Poppy Arena, and Rattle Your Cage kicked the crowd into life. The line-up of Glen, James, Jim Lowe, and Javier Weyler, were again boistered by backing vocals from Tracie Hunter, Maggi Ronson and Elizabeth Westwood. The ladies give the songs a warm, full sound which is of extra benefit on the more melodic songs such as Somewhere Somehow, Idiot and On Something, and the spikey T.R.O.U.B.L.E. It was satisfying to hear the dual guitar attack on Nowheresville sound at home in the large venue. The set was well balanced with rockers Timebomb, Rock Chick and the set closing, Born Running injecting the proceedings with adrenaline fuelled shots of energy at appropriate intervals.
The audience showed their admiration - The Philistines without doubt made some new friends here tonight, with the interactive Yeah Right proving a big crowd hit. The highlight however, came with the live debut of new song, Hey Mister. James Stevenson was raving about this song to me the previous evening; he thinks it’s one of Glen’s best ever. He’s correct. It’s certainly one of Glen’s most emotional songs – a rock’n’roll power ballad, delivered tonight by a set of musicians intent on giving it a live debut to remember. The backing vocal trio did their upmost to ensure an epic sounding delivery by the band.
The Alarm followed The Philistines on stage and played an incredible three hours. For their final two songs, Mike Peters welcomed on stage “The spirit of ‘ 76, Glen Matlock” for an ear shattering rendition of Pretty Vacant, with no less than three guitars beefing up proceedings courtesy of Glen, Mike himself, and of course James Stevenson. Then, with Glen remaining on stage, Big Country’s Bruce Watson and his talented son Jamie came on and the evening reached its climax with a version of Neil Young’s Rockin’ In The Freeworld, which was so explosive it nearly blew Prestatyn off the Welsh coast and into the Irish Sea. That was it…. until the aftershow… and the Rich Kids. Those fans blessed with extra stamina moved to the Spirit Ballroom for the aftershow party. Rich Kid’s drummer Rusty Egan DJ’d (a full on punk rock disco) from midnight through to 1.40am when he swapped the decks for drum sticks. Glen and Rusty had decided to play a few Rich Kids songs in honour of Steve New. James Stevenson, another close friend of Steve, paid tribute to him at the start of the set, before taking on Steve’s duties on lead guitar. Mike Peters provided the majority of lead vocals and additional acoustic guitar while a friend of Mike’s added harmonica.
The group ran through Burning Sounds (lead vocal by Glen), Ghosts Of Princes In Towers and Rich Kids. It was loud, rough around the edges, but marvelously authentic. It was a privilege to witness these classics performed by the nearest thing to the Rich Kids we’re ever likely to experience following Steve’s death. The fourth and final song performed was The Small Faces’ All Or Nothing. The band were joined on stage by Tracie Hunter, Maggi Ronson and Elizabeth Westwood for the storming finale. By 2am it was over. Everyone present, sober or otherwise, knew how fortunate they’d been to witness the “Rich Kids” once again. A special end to an excellent festival.
Text and photographs © Phil Singleton Rich Kids 2011 Gathering Photograph Special > ©Phil Singleton www.sex-pistols.net 2011. All rights reserved. |
