Phonology

    Sometimes the old tunes are the best. Neville Staple (of The Specials) has been gigging on and off for almost thirty years and really knows how to put on a show. From the outset the band replicates the joyful skankin ska of the two-tone period, with trombone and trumpet and the solid bass to back it up. Staple and his band are full of the boisterous energy of the post punk period, and include favourites such as Gangsters, Monkey Man and Rudi, A Message to You in their half hour set. Staple is promoting a new album The Rude Boy Returns, but by the sound of it, he's never been away.

    The Buzzcocks begin their set with a light show and monster drums. Those drums are to be the heart of the Buzzcocks set, as Phil Barker, the machine of a drummer never seems to pause for an instant. The set kicks of with an initially unrecognisable rendition of Autonomy, but when Pete Shelley's distinctive vocals merge with the rest of the sound, everything falls into place. Almost every one of The Buzzcocks' hits are rattled off at breakneck speed in a celebration of punk pop perfection. Original guitarist, Steve Diggle, mulleted and sporting a waistcoat å la Francis Rossi (of Status Quo) wrings some skronky punk solos out of his axe with all the enthusiasm of youth. In contrast to the pop punks of today, the old geezers still sound like they mean it after all these years.

    The audience is peppered with old punks with walking sticks, glam goths and casual 30-40 somethings. When called upon to provide the harmony in Harmony in my Head, they do so with vigour, and there's even a tiny mosh pit for the hardcore. The gig is reminiscent of the classic album Singles Going Steady, with classic following classic. Shelley's voice sounds the same as it did twenty five years ago, and the crowd goes ape for definitive Buzzcocks' tunes like Boredom and Ever Fallen In Love?

    When the encore rounds off the night with everyone's favourites, What do I Get? and Orgasm Addict it seems that they've simply run out of songs to play. There never seems to have been a pause of more than ten seconds throughout. You can keep your Blink 182. For punk pop it has to be The Buzzcocks, they might be punks with paunches, but we loved them.