Forget Paris!
The last time I saw Vice Squad, they looked like that (left pic),
now they look like this (right pic).
As the title suggests, it is actually 28 years since I last saw Vice Squad play live - October (ish...) 1982: Sea Cadets Hall Cambridge. Absolutely Brilliant! The support was a local band called Flowers of the Past. It was particularly memorable as there were no trains or buses back to Peterborough afterwards so my dad had to drive all the way to Cambridge - find the place - and then drive me and Darren MacAuley home afterwards, ready for school the next day.
It was just after the "State of the Nation" EP had been released so they played all the songs off that, plus all the songs from the "Strand Strong Stand Proud" LP (which I absolutely loved and still do). They didn't play "Saviour Machine" but did do a version of the Pistols' classic "EMI" so that was alright - plus I bumped into Shane coming out of the toilet...!
So, as Vice Squad are my FAVORITEST BAND EVER - why did it take 28 years before I got to see them again ? Well, you know - the usual things, I had work.... and, well, stuff..... Of course it didn't help that Beki left the band to form Ligotage ("Crime and Passion" - great song!) and I never really took to the "Lia incarnation" of the group.
Fast forward now to 7th August 2010 and I'm Back - finally! Having seen the long queues of people trying to get into the Arena stage to see Peter & The Test Tube Babies, I immediately made my way to the Olympia stage to make sure of a place and found a safe place with a decent view leaning on a pillar.
The room filled up and tension mounted. The band came on and started with a song I didn't know..! Oh dear, hadn't thought of that... "Punx United" though - good rousing tune - then another "new" song. Oh well, I couldn't really expect them to play 30 year old songs JUST to suit me, could I..?
But then came “Living On Dreams” from the Last Rockers EP -the very first Vice Squad song I ever heard – back on John Peel’s Radio 1 show – and everything was all right. Apart, that is, from probably the only bloke taller than me in the room who didn’t appear remotely interested in what was happening on stage and kept chatting and laughing with his entourage. I moved from my cosy pillar and went to a side wall - better view of the stage , slightly closer, more “personal space” around me and the 50/50 nature of the set continued.
We got “Scarred for Life” and “Citizen” from the “State Of the Nation”, “Latex Love”, “Out Of Reach” and (my favourite...) “Rock n Roll Massacre” from Stand Strong mixed with newer material such as Defiant, Goodnight England and others that I can’t quite remember after just one hearing. They signed off with the great anthem “Stand Strong Stand Proud” and then a spine tingling rendition of “Last Rockers” that made me feel as if it was 1982 all over again .
So there you go: Beki’s back, I’m back, Vice Squad are still brilliant and the Rebellion Festival is a great opportunity to catch up on all those bands you’ve seen and loved / not seen for ages... only let’s not leave it another 28 years, eh guys...?
