Yorkshire rockers Goo open up tonight, showing that it doesn’t really matter if you can write songs as long as you can rock hard.
The songs are fine, but feel like an afterthought amidst the mania of scorching riffs, frenetic drumming and gratuitous solos. They’re ostensibly a punk band, and a fine one at that, but the guitarist manages to unleash a metal snarl towards the end that he had clearly been hankering for. Good on ya, fella.
illuminati hotties last graced our presence in the dank basement of the Hug & Pint, so it’s nice to see them in a much bigger space (though equally dank). Sarah Tudzin is on equally ripping form tonight, caring not a jot for being a support act she’s got the crowd in the palm of her hands after a manic trio of ‘(You’re Better) Than Ever’, ‘Pool Hopping’ and ‘Joni: L.A.’s No. 1 Health Goth.’
The middle song seems to be where she realises that a good chunk of the audience actually know the words so she ups the punky intensity and even manages to get a few pits going: always a good sign for the support.
The PUP collab ‘Wreck My Life’ brings frontman Stefan Babcock to the stage along with a birthday cake and a charming celebratory sing-a-long that’s only slightly awkward when it’s clear almost no-one knows Sarah’s name. ‘MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA’ is the standout of the set, a perfect melding of pop hooks and bad-trip absurdity. Tudzin takes to the front row amidst the madness and the ensuing crowd work shows that audiences are perfectly capable of learning new lyrics on the fly, especially if the lyrics in question are “Donald Trump is a fucking Nazi.”
The bar is set high but PUP come out swinging as you just know they will. A punter takes a good-natured swipe at Babcock’s nasally Canadian accent and he fires back “like you lot sound so normal,” setting the tone for the night: bantering with old friends, all in good fun, but occasionally just a hint of an edge in the back and forth.
The set is taken from across the band’s five albums, with the recent ‘Who Will Look After The Dogs?’ getting most attention unsurprisingly. But it’s the fan favourite golden era (if that’s not too much for a band that’s about 15 years old) of ‘The Dream Is Over’ and ‘Morbid Stuff’ that incites the most movement, though almost every song gets the people going.
The band’s cynicism shines through on track titles like ‘My Life Is Over And I Couldn’t Be Happier’, ‘No Hope’ and ‘Hunger For Death,’ and Babcock frequently reiterates how shitty the world is right now. “The world is fucked right now,” the message goes, “but it doesn’t need to be in here” is the vibe for the night.
Pre-empting the accusations of band tension, he gives a heartfelt shoutout to his brothers in arms: “these guys are my best friends” before getting into it on ‘If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will.’ It might be the biggest pit of the night, at least judging by the density of crowd surfers.
Zack and Jake from illuminati hotties join for ‘Paranoid’ and Tudzin joins for old favourite ‘Reservoir’, which also allows for a ‘Happy Birthday’ reprise. There’s a wonderfully gregarious air to the evening, the band smiling wide and the crowd panting for breath in the very warm TV Studio. Even the smell of sweat and beer can’t take the shine of the cathartic joy to be had during closer and knotty meta-analysis ‘Full Blown Meltdown.’ It’s a fitting end on a night when snotty angst rubs shoulders with emotional longing; we smirk, we rage, but ultimately we care.
Photos by Catching Light Photography
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