It's that time of the year when the thoughts of two middle aged men turn to whether or not to go along to the Barrowlands Ballroom on the 17th March. I'm not sure why there is such a dilemma, we have yet to see a bad performance by the band but there is something that always has me in two minds as to whether to go or not.
I think that the main reason is that it is pure nostalgia from the moment that you walk into the cavernous ballroom, it's as if the 80s. 90s and the last decade and a bit never happened. It is really quite sad to see middle aged men sporting mohicans and wearing bondage trousers. Don't get me wrong as soon as the band take to the stage the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and for the next 90 minutes I get continual goosebumps and shivers down my spine at regular intervals. But when it's over and I'm walking back to the car I feel, not unsatisfied, how could I be, I have just listened to and watched possibly the finest punk band play the best of their back catalogue sounding nearly as good as they did all those years ago but there is always something nagging at me.
It is probably just the realisation that irrespective of how much we would like to we cannot turn the clock back and no matter how good the band are, I will never be able to recreate that feeling I had that Saturday afternoon when I was eleven and I played At The Edge for the first time after buying it from Woolies about twenty minutes beforehand.
SLF - At The Edge
3 comments:
I saw them last twenty years ago, and it's one of the best gigs I ever saw. Bruce was in the line up at that point, they were still young men. I don't think I could do it now. Would be a bit like going on a date with the girl you fancied when you were 18 who now looks like her own grandmother.
That's a brilliant line Simon.
(Hasn't stopped me from booking for Leeds in the same week though!)
I haven't had the priviledge of seeing SLF since the very late 80's or maybe early 90's when they came through NYC and it was just a magical as seeing them back in 1980 instead of the 4th night in a row of The Clash at Bonds.
My friends and I met up the next night at Bonds for night #5 of The Clash and all we could talk about was how on fire SLF was. When I saw them a decade later with most of the same friends it was just as white hot.
Go. They want you to be there and so do you!
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