Pioneering Punk Bassist lights up Leeds Brudenell with a set of PiL songs and covers
Would love to have been a fly on the wall in Lydon Towers this year. He must have been at his ragesome best, what with Frank Carter taking his vocal role with the newly reconstituted Sex Pistols and Jah Wobble’s live shows featuring his reimagined take on PIL’s seminal “Metal Box”. True he’s had a difficult couple of years, what with losing both his wife and best friend so close together. The Sex Pistols FC, were actually very good, despite all the nay sayers on Social Media beforehand. It was great to hear those songs again with 75% of the original line up in place.
And so tonight, at the iconic Leeds Brudenell Social, it’s the turn of one of Rotten’s oldest chums to deliver his reboot of one of Post Punk’s most influential albums.
As an album, Metal Box is flawless, timeless and as such should be left well alone you’d have thought. However, Wobble has reworked those songs in his own inimitable style, including providing the vocals on a few like Poptones, Careering and The Suit. It’s not all heavy dub workouts. Wobble’s version omits the last 4 songs on side 4 in favour of two tracks from the debut album.
Jah shuffles onto stage sporting a cane and a nifty white glove on his right hand! Apparently, he’s in a lot of pain and also sustained a nasty cut playing bass. We get a bit of banter about the North/South divide, although he’s been living near Stockport for over 25 years, he’s still a born and bred Cockney geezer!
The audience as one might expect is predominantly made up of 60 somethings, although there’s a smattering of 20 somethings, including the bass player of Manchester fem- punks, The Red Stains, also in attendance. Jah is most definitely amongst friends.
The first few bars of Albatross are greeted with beaming smiles and the night is off to a good start. Wobble has assembled some solid musicians around him and they slip easily between PIL songs and a few choice cover versions.
Jah likes to mix it up a bit live, asking for audience feedback on the bass levels and whether the drummer should be worked any harder. It’s almost as if there’s a consensual Mark E Smith onstage!
Despite the pain he’s in he manages to deliver a great set whilst seated and nobody leaves disappointed. It’s a privilege to see such a legend still doing what he enjoys, without churning out the same tired sets his peers regurgitate year on year. Some people might think it’s a bit of a cash in, but you have to remember that after Metal Box was released in November 1979, PiL played very few gigs before Wobble was sacked in 1980, so he didn’t get to play the songs that many times live. Thanks John and Up The Spurs.
Set list: Albatross/Memories/Swan Lake/Poptones/Careering/Graveyard/The Suit/Socialist/Public Image//Fodderstomp/Midnight Cowboy Theme/The Chain (Fleetwood Mac/Liquidator (Harry J Allstars)
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