First to say, Islington Academy is a weird venue. Its purpose built and small, but the weird bit is its in the middle of a shopping centre. And then of course the audience is weird. A few young punks, a lot of respectable middle-aged folk like ourselves, and then the really weird middle-aged punks. Fat old blokes in a vest and with a mohican.
"We are too old to be punks" shouts the lead singer, "and so are you!" he declares to the audience. He is of course right. But it is quite fun. I particularly love the way these elderly gentlemen have retained their punk names like "Klaus Flouride."
Now, the Dead Kennedys were never at the real forefront of punk. Their twist was humour and satire more than disillusioned angry nihilism. Hence songs like Holidays in Cambodia (their best known) California Uber Alles and Kill the Poor. And how do times change? Holidays in Cambodia now could be a slogan for an upmarket travel company rather than a reference to one of the worst regimes in human history. Pol Pot seems a distant memory, whereas punk is an ongoing nostalgia trip.
Of course, musically this genre has its limitations. You can't do lot with three minutes thrashes. You can't add a horn section. It is what it is and always will be. I am just glad that I persuaded Kieron to leave the pub after an hour and go in. We missed all but he last song of support act Loom, but if we had gone in about 9 pm as I think Kieron would normally prefer, we would have missed pretty much the whole set. It was over fairly quickly and started early, and we were in a shopping centre. But that was fine. It was all we wanted of them, and there is a pub across the road, and it was a mild night. All good.
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| This is Klaus Fluoride. Not your idea of a snarling punk? More nice old gentleman who has just popped into the Post Office to collect his pension?Age affects us all. But often in a kindly way. |
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