Stiff Little Fingers
Bath Pavilion
11th October, 2007

View: from a safe distance

Jake Burns may be pushing 50, but the SLF frontman is as passionate and resonant as ever. Still wholeheartedly barking out his often-ferocious lyrics, the man must have a perpetual sore throat. SLF remain one of the few acts of their genre still treading the boards with credibility intact and, as the good-natured audience sang along and jumped up and down, they were treated to a well balanced set of old, not so old and new material. Doesn’t Make It Alright and Roots, Radics, Rockers And Reggae still make you feel the way you did the first time you heard them, and it was great to hear Harp, (I Could Be) Happy Yesterday and Listen. The impressive Ali McMordie did his normal whirling dervish without ever missing a note. Ian McCallum acts as the perfect guitar-wielding foil to Burns and stepped into the spotlight to sing his excellent Can’t Get Away With That. And Steve Grantley hits his drums as hard as ever. The show ended with an aneurysm-inducing Tin Soldiers, Suspect Device, Johnny Was and Alternative Ulster. Great stuff.

Reviewed by Ian Templeton
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