GIG REVIEW: Bad Religion + UK Subs, Newcastle University, Sunday 5 June 2022
Legend is a word that’s bandied around all too frequently these days, but it’s not often you can see not one but two bands on the same bill who are actually deserving of the accolade.
Formed in Los Angeles, California, way back in 1980, Bad Religion are one of THE great US punk bands. A huge influence on a whole generation, they showed here why they’re so highly regarded.
This gig was originally meant to take place in 2020 to mark the band’s 40th anniversary, but was twice postponed due to the pandemic.
Both crowd and band were well up for it by the time Bad Religion took the stage, helped in part by a storming set from openers UK Subs, whose frontman Charlie Harper is certainly worthy of the ‘legend’ epithet.
The only constant in the Subs’ line-up since they were formed in London in 1976, he continues to defy the march of time, and unlike most of their contemporaries (even Bad Religion) the band has never split up.
Charlie kept the flag flying in the dark days when the media would have us believe that punk was dead. It wasn’t, it had just gone back underground, until it found a new generation of converts in the early 90s thanks to US bands like Bad Religion, Green Day, NOFX, Rancid and The Offspring.
Harper’s now 78, and is joined in the current line-up by long-time bassist Alvin Gibbs, guitarist Steve Straughan (a punk lifer from just down the road in Sunderland), and their most recent recruit, drummer Dave Humphries.
Maybe it’s the regular turnover of members which keeps the Subs fresh, with new life regularly breathed into a band which by most normal standards would have been pensioned off long ago. Whatever their secret, they’re on fire at the moment, with Harper, as ever, their beating heart.
Tomorrow’s Girls, Party In Paris, Down On The Farm, the excellent Emotional Blackmail, Barbie’s Dead and Stranglehold took me back to my youth and hearing these songs for the first time.
Set highlights
Warhead, as ever, prompted the night’s biggest singalong, but for me it was topped by Ice Age, with its juddering bassline. It’s years since I heard it, and it was the highlight of a 45-minute set.
After a short changeover, the baton was passed from one legend to another, and it was clear from the moment Bad Religion stepped onstage that they were keen to make up for lost time.
There was none of the between-song pissing about which iritates me about so many US punk bands’ live shows, BR preferring to power through a 75-minute set which covered most points of their career.
They have released 17 albums, and by my reckoning played something from all but a handful of them, which should have sent even the most discerning fan home happy.
Professor of punk
Like Charlie Harper, Bad Religion have a constant in the shape of vocalist Greg Graffin. Bespectacled and dressed all in black, the ‘professor of punk’ looks very much like the academic that he is (he has a pHd in zoology) when he’s not fronting a punk rock band.
A mere ‘youngster’ of 57, he was in good voice tonight, and his band (featuring original bassist Jay Bentley and longtime guitarist Brian Baker) were tight as a gnat’s chuff, showing why their particular brand of melodic punk, with its liberal use of vocal harmonies, has retained its allure for so long.
(A third founder member, guitarist Brett Gurewitz – of Epitaph Records fame – remains part of the band, but doesn’t tour these days. Mike Dimkich is a more than able replacement, while drummer Jamie Miller is the most recent recruit, having joined in 2015).
Their most recent album, 2019’s Age Of Unreason, contributed only one track (End Of History) to a 24-song setlist which went all the way back to the very beginning – We’re Only Gonna Die, track one, side one of their 1982 debut How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
Everyone will have their own favourite moments in the set; mine came fairly early on, with the tremendous one-two of Punk Rock Song and Los Angeles Is Burning.
Home run
My only criticism of BR is that some of their mid-paced stuff can sound a little samey, but they kept us on our toes by throwing in faster numbers like the pacey Fuck You, while a thundering Infected started the home run which ended with one of their best-known songs, 21st Century (Digital Boy).
We weren’t done yet, and a two-song encore of American Jesus and Fuck Armageddon … This Is Hell injected renewed energy into the now-wilting moshpit before the house lights came on and it was suddenly all over.
Graffin reckons Bad Religion had only played in Newcastle once before. I can’t remember when or where, but I’m not going to argue with a professor. Even if Bad Religion never return, this is a night that will live long in the memories of all those present.
- Thanks to Will Binks Photography for the pictures accompanying this review. Check out more of his excellent work documenting the North East punk scene on his Flickr page HERE.
