I've been a fan of the Dead Kennedys and Jello Biafra since 1989 when I started at secondary school. I have seen Biafra do a spoken word show before but I've never seen him with a band. I actually came down from Dundee specifically to see this show. There are very few bands that would make me do that. I need to get up at the crack of dawn to get to work tomorrow morning but I'm hapy to say that it was worth it.
Before I talk about biafra I need to mention Desalvo, the Glasweigan hardcore band. They are like the Jesus Lizard but more fun. Well worth seeing. Buy their album if you can find it.
Jello Biafra is now 53 years old. While I admire him I think it is safe to say that his body is not a temple. He is not Henry Rollins. He looks like an average 53 year old man. He still managed to put on one of the most energetic stage shows I've seen in a long time. He stage-dived about 10 times. I was worried that he would die.
I was also worried about the rest of the crowd. The average age was over 40. I was younger than average for a change (I'm 34). It was fairly good to see lots of middle aged men going totally mental to hardcore punk.
Biafra has to be one of the best punk frontmen I've seen, He was giving good chat about David Cameron, vodaphone tax evasion, Rupert Murdoch, Obama and everything else. His voice held out for nearly two hours.
The setlist was a dream. California Uber Alles, Forkboy, Police Truck, New Feudalism, Holiday in Cambodia. I haven't checked out the last two albums yet but I will. I enjoyed the new stuff.
Overall this was a great gig. I might never see him live again but I'm glad I made it.
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Thanks for the Desalvo recommendation! I love The Jesus Lizard, so I'll have to check them out.
They are worth looking into. I know the singer a bit. He's a nice bloke but he has a very confrontational stage presence. My mate plays drums in Mogwai and Desalvo are signed to their label.
Desalvo contain former members of a Scottish noisecore band from the late '80s called the stretcheads. They were a bit like the bad brains mixed with more electronic sounds. Their records are all out of print but they can be heard on youtube
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