GIG REVIEW: Dirt Box Disco + Rigid Digits + Loaded 44 + Zero Tolerance, Unionist Club, South Shields, Saturday 10 December 2022
In 40 years of watching live music, I can probably count the number of crap gigs I’ve been to on one hand. I wish the same could be said of football matches.
That’s why, when I realised this show clashed with England’s World Cup quarter-final with France, there was no question which one I’d choose.
Unlike football, music rarely lets you down, and this four-band bill was a perfect example of that.
Opening the show were Zero Tolerance, a four-piece street-punk band from County Durham who have a couple of fine albums under their belt.
I missed their debut appearance at Rebellion in Blackpool in August due to one of those unfortunate clashes which the festival often throws up, so was determined to see them here, despite the early start.
Parking problems meant I missed their first couple of songs, but it soon became obvious that Kitto and the boys were on great form.
Old favourites like Punk Police, Champagne Charlie Wankers and Too Young To Die were mixed in with a handful of new tunes from their forthcoming third album.
The band begin recording it in January, and the good news is songs like Last Goodbye and Voices In My Head are up to their usual high standard.
Next up were Loaded 44, an ‘ass-shakin’ punk rock’ band from Sunderland who, believe it or not, have been strutting their stuff for more than 25 years now.
Vocalist Beki Straughan is one of the best front persons you’ll ever see, full of sass as well as possessing a great rock ‘n’ roll voice, and the three lads she’s with kick up a fair racket as well.
The latest line-up sees Beki and guitarist and fellow songwriter Dave Robinson joined by Tony Taylor (who’s in Hi Fi Spitfires with her hubby Steve) on bass and Rikki McElwee (Crashed Out/Death To Indie) on drums.
They plough through a 45-minute set of songs drawn from their surprisingly brief back catalogue, which consists of just two albums and a couple of EPs.
Highlights include opener Get Ready from their 2016 release of the same name, Generation Idiot from 2014’s Come On! album and We Saved The World, from their 2011 debut Wasted On You.
Crowd warmed up, it’s time for a band whose appearance so high up the bill might raise one or two eyebrows, as they’re the first band of the night who don’t play their own material.
Rigid Digits are a four-piece from the North East who pay tribute to Stiff Little Fingers, and, as a lifelong fan of SLF, I can confirm they’re bloody good at it.
Pea, Mark, Tich and Davey have been kicking up a racket since 2001, and tonight their set consists solely of songs from SLF’s first two albums, Inflammable Material and Nobody’s Hero.
This includes one or two numbers that Jake Burns and co rarely play live, like Law And Order and Breakout, as well as more obvious choices like Alternative Ulster, At the Edge and Wasted Life.
They certainly justify their position on the bill, as the floor in front of the stage is soon filled with a mass of bodies surging to and fro like the tide at South Shields beach.
Job done, the Digits retire to the floor themselves to watch the main attraction, tonight’s headliners Dirt Box Disco, one of the DIY punk scene’s most successful breakout acts of the past 10 years.
Their frontman Weab left in 2019 to concentrate on his other band Kid Klumsy, but the band continued as a four-piece, with guitarist and songwriter Spunk Volcano taking over on vocals, and if anything they’re even better for it.
After appearing at Rebellion Punk Festival in Blackpool for the first time in 2012, they’re now main stage stalwarts there, regularly filling the Empress Ballroom.
It’s easy to see why, as beneath the Poundshop dressey-up-box outfits there’s a great band with a superb range of singalong glam-punk anthems under their belt. Some people don’t get Dirt Box; I love them.
They kick off tonight with Burning and Tragic Roundabout from their debut EP, and for the next hour they wheel out some of their biggest tunes.
Working For Wankers, Joyce’s Voices, My Girlfriend’s Best Friend’s Sister and a new song, Fuck Me It’s All Gone Wrong, all get an airing, provoking enthusiastic singalongs and much moshing.
The home straight sees them up the ante even further, rolling out fan favourites I Don’t Want To Go Out With You, Let’s Get Wasted! and traditional closer My Life Is Shit.
Then they’re gone, and it’s time to buy some merch, catch up on the England score and say goodbye to some familiar faces before heading home. Unlike football, music never lets you down.
