GIG REVIEW: Cro-Mags, The Cluny, Newcastle. Monday 27 June 2022
As the initially-timid crowd stood hesitantly towards the back of the room, clearly anticipating a taste of things to come, a ferocious Harley Flanagan ordered them forward to fill the gap or he wouldn’t play a single note.
He’s not someone to disobey, and as the crowd shuffled hesitantly forward, Cro-Mags launched into We Gotta Know and all hell broke loose as they responded to Flanagan’s call to arms.
From that moment on it was non-stop, in your face, classic New York hardcore by the masters and originators.
From No One’s Victim to From The Grave, the hard driving, frantic riffs and deep, grinding grooves had the crowd in an absolute frenzy as Flanagan spat forth his take on social disharmony.
Hailing Newcastle for bringing Venom to the world, Flanagan was clearly delighted to be in the land of his heroes, and seemed to step up the level of aggression at the mere mention of their name.
Flanagan showed a more vulnerable side as he broke down while detailing his battles with post traumatic stress disorder and life on the streets and how they shaped his life.
He fought back tears of rage and despair as he launched into a brutal PTSD from their latest album In The Beginning before heading right back to the very start with World Peace.
As the evening progressed more people ventured up onto the stage, some trading vocals with Flanagan and others hurling themselves into the furious moshpit in front of them and surfing across the heads of the increasing lively crowd, who at one stage burst through the fire escape.
During a relentless Life On Earth a stage diver inadvertently knocked the power off, bringing brief respite to the shattered crowd, but normal service was swiftly resumed with Street Justice and Survival Of The Streets.
Just as the show was reaching fever pitch … bang, the Cro-Mags literally blew the fuse with their high intensity, rabble-rousing show.
A smiling Flanagan yelled an apology over the cheering crowd, bringing the show to a slightly premature but ultimately exhilarating end.
