{"id":7669,"date":"2022-06-07T19:33:04","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T18:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipamusic.co.uk\/?p=7669"},"modified":"2022-06-07T19:33:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T18:33:07","slug":"bad-religion-and-uk-subs-show-why-they-are-both-punk-rock-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipamusic.co.uk\/?p=7669","title":{"rendered":"Bad Religion and UK Subs show why they are both punk rock legends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GIG REVIEW: Bad Religion + UK Subs, Newcastle University, Sunday 5 June 2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formed in Los Angeles, California, way back in 1980, Bad Religion<\/strong> are one of THE great US punk bands. A huge influence on a whole generation, they showed here why they’re so highly regarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/strong>, whose frontman Charlie Harper is certainly worthy of the ‘legend’ epithet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UK Subs frontman Charlie Harper performing at Newcastle University. Pic: Will Binks Photography.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n