Live Review: Buzzcocks Kick Doubters Into Touch – UK Tour December 2019

On Friday June 4^th 1976 Steve Diggle turned up at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall to meet a guitar player who was looking for a bass player to form a band with. As luck would have it he’s ushered into the venue by Malcolm McLaren who tells him there’s a guitar player who’s looking for a bass player in the venue collecting tickets for the Sex Pistols performance that night. That guitar player wasn’t the one Diggle had planned to meet but it was Pete Shelley and so the long Shelley / Diggle partnership, the backbone of future Buzzcocks, was born.

Ignoring the break from early 1981 to late 1989 Buzzcocks spent 42 years releasing some of the most perfect punk-pop records you’ll ever hear and there’s countless articles in various places backing up this point. Then, on December 6th 2018, Pete Shelley passed away at home in Estonia. The moment I heard this devastating news is one I’ll remember in perfect detail for the rest of my days. Pete Shelley, and Buzzcocks, had provided the soundtrack to my life since I was 12 years old. I’d seen them over 150 times, travelled thousands of miles to watch them, rearranged a family holiday so I could catch some extra dates on a tour, developed friendships with some of the greatest people you could ever meet through The Secret Public, eventually got to know Pete – one of the nicest, kindest, wittiest, supportive people you could hope to meet.

Buzzcocks gave me my first proper photo pass for a concert. My early photographs were dreadful. Pete encouraged me to take more, eventually using one of my band shots as the stage drop for their “40” tour. He didn’t have to do that. So as time passed after that awful news I thought that was it. Buzzcocks will no longer exist. They can’t carry on. Not without Pete. There was one final gig. The Royal Albert Hall in June 2019. Guest vocalists together with appearances by John Maher and Steve Garvey from “the classic Buzzcocks line-up” – the line up that produced those wonderful 7 inch singles that even 40 years later casual music fans of a certain age still know and love.

Then Steve Diggle announces Buzzcocks will continue and the social media comments come thick and fast. “Pete Shelley was Buzzcocks”, “There can be no Buzzcocks without Pete”, “It’s just a way to make money from the name”, “Diggle should just continue his solo work / re-form Flag Of Convenience”. There were some who supported Diggle’s decision but they were the minority. I’ll admit I had my doubts but said I’d go and see them if it didn’t involve travelling hundreds of miles. Buzzcocks, with the addition of new recruit Mani Perazzoli , honoured their commitment to play The Boaty Weekender in August. People who were there said Buzzcocks were on fire. Then an eight date tour was announced. Then I thought some more. And some more. Buzzcocks are part of me. They’ve helped shape my life in so many ways. Different members of the band have shown me nothing but kindness. My loyalty wasn’t just to Pete, it was to the band. I decided to go to four of the eight dates. That way I’d know for certain.

December 14^th 2019. Steve Diggle, Chris Remington, Danny Farrant and Mani Perazzoli walk on stage at Preston’s 53 Degrees. They open with ‘What Do I Get’, follow this with ‘Fast Cars’, then ‘Chainstore’ and at this point I’m 100% certain that Diggle made the right decision. The night proves to be one of the best Buzzcocks gigs I’ve seen for a number of years. Steve Diggle is now centre stage and together with Remington, Farrant and Perazzoli delivers a show that is full of energy, passion and confidence. Gone is the set list we could almost predict from one gig to the next. Of course those songs that formed the soundtrack to our youth are still played. And so they should be. ‘Promises’, ‘I Don’t Mind’, ‘Orgasm Addict’, ‘Ever Fallen In Love’. They don’t sound the same without Shelley’s unique voice singing them. But they are still fantastic. They still stir up emotions but in a different way now. Memories of Pete continuously surface. Steve Diggle pays his former musical partner the utmost respect both in his comments between songs and in his delivery of them.

But things move on and we get a Buzzcocks set list many would have liked to have seen before now. Eleven of the twenty two songs are Diggle compositions. Going back to the early days with ‘Autonomy’, ‘Chainstore’, ‘Love Is Lies’ and ‘Harmony In My Head’. ‘Speed Of Life’ from 1999’s album ‘Modern’. ‘Sick City Sometimes’ has been a live favourite for years but there’s also ‘People Are Strange Machines’, ‘Chasing Rainbows’ and ‘Third Dimension’ from 2014’s ‘The Way’. This isn’t Buzzcocks falling into the nostalgia trap. This is the start of something new and a reminder that Steve Diggle has written some fantastic Buzzcocks songs.

There’s a new single. Both sides are played. ‘Gotta Get Better’ and ‘Destination Zero’ are unmistakeably Diggle / Buzzcocks. Full of social comment with that distinctive buzzsaw guitar work and a melodic beat that makes you want to sing and dance. And Steve Diggle looks as though he wants to carry on for ever. He isn’t a cynical old pop star milking past hits to bring in some cash to support a soon to be retirement. He performs every song as if this is his first gig and he knows he’s got to impress. The Townsend moves are still there, the grins, the grimaces, the smiles, the pointing, guitar held aloft as he smashes out those riffs but now all eyes are on him..

It’s the same the next night at Gorilla in Manchester, and again at The Cluny in Newcastle and, on December 21st, the final night of the tour at The Key Club in Leeds, when the band should be knackered and wanting nothing more than to go home for Christmas they smash the place apart with an energy and attitude many bands less than half their age wouldn’t have. Every date has seen a crowd completely won over. A glance around showing just a mass of people dancing, jumping, singing, smiling. At all four gigs I’ve met people who, 12 months ago, shared my doubts but who now agree Buzzcocks must carry on. People who weren’t casual fans but who have been dedicated followers of this band for years and years. 

Certain songs must never be dropped. Not just because they are timeless classics but also out of respect for and to remind us of the person who wrote them and how he touched the lives of so many people in different ways. But as Buzzcocks move on  ‘Isolation’, ‘Energy’, “Running Free”, “Airwaves Dream”, “Alive Tonight”, “Back With You”, “Between Heaven And Hell”  could and should all make an appearance. Even better, more new songs. A new album – I’m sure there will be one – would mean Buzzcocks continue as one of the best live acts around.

It’s easy to sit behind a computer making comments about a band that was. Easy to live in the past and say things shouldn’t change. It’s more difficult to get off your arse and go and see if all your fears have turned out to be true. And for some it’s even more difficult to be proved wrong. Buzzcocks have proved them wrong. They’ve shown that the past can be acknowledged with respect but that it’s possible to move on, for things to change yet still be innovative, passionate, angry, energetic and deliver a show that’s fantastic on every level. To all those doubters here’s some Facebook comments following the tour.

“Excellent we were blown away didn’t expect that.”

“It was a cracking night. Emotional and full of energy.”

“I really had doubts but last night changed all that. It would be a crime not to continue
Their musical legacy and importance must carry on.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was, absolutely brilliant I’ll be going again.”

“Fucking banging night  you guys smashed it”

“It was brilliant tonight in Manchester, blew me away.”

“wow just wow and what a set list, the new single is a cracker as is the b-side. So so glad Steve carried on with the band.”

Photography by Steve White. You can visit Steve White‘s Flickr site here and you can click on any of the photos to view a slide show of the images.

Buzzcocks official website can be found here