Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

From the JAM
& The Longsands
Wulfrun Hall Wolverhampton
Friday 23rd April 2010

With The Blockheads gig in Shrewsbury scrubbed out, I quickly bought a ticket for "From the Jam" by nefarious means and got myself installed at the Wolves Wulfrun Hall (front right as always). With a pint of Red Bull in me hand; and a mouth full of gum (lovely mix) I braced myself for the support, THE LONGSANDS a five piece combo who hail (no its just raining actually) from the North of the North (just down from where Noggin of the Nogs lives) in Northumberland.

And for twenty five minutes or so I stood there as happy as a dog with several appendages; there was a certain amount of involuntary movement: me head nodded a bit, and me knees bent every now and again too. As we say in Wolves "them's was alright". Yep wa lads played some pretty neat & solid stuff, decent melodies with the right amount of crunch and crackle to keep blandom at bay. They weren't Maximo Park and they weren't The Futureheads but more importantly they weren't Lindisfarne either. It was just good honest Indie fayre with all the bullshit removed - SO HEY LONGSANDS PLAY ON. LISTEN HERE

Now thinking about it St Georges Day was a pretty appropriate day to go to see "From the Jam" and its funny how this sort of serendipitous shit transpires, and how also how bad timing usually follows. The final Jam gig for me was at Bingley Hall Birmingham on the 8th December '82 and even though I've seen Weller an incalculable amount of times since, Bruce on a couple of occasions (last with 3 Men & Black) and Rick Butler only once as part of "The Gift". It seems I've missed the crucial moment of seeing at least two of The Jam back together. Cos in case you didn't already know, Rick recently left "From The Jam" and Mark Brzezicki "From the Big Country" has taken up the vacant stool and sticks - what's that all about then?

And so 9 O'Clockish came around and so too did Bruce Foxton immaculately suited with 2 tone shirt beneath and still in possession of mightiest mullet* in music. All was in place to kick off with "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight"

With a hundred odd Jam tracks at their disposal; and with one of the most enviable listings in the British book of Hit Singles; and with one of the most loyal & partisan crowds you could ever hope to have; and with a set with this lot in it: Down in a Tube Station at Midnight, News of the World, Modern World, Beat Surrender, Pretty Green, To be Someone (Didn't We have a Nice Time), Sad About Us, Little Boy Soldiers, Butterfly Collector, NEW TRACK, That's Entertainment, David Watts, Smithers Jones, When You're Young, Thick as Thieves, Eton Rifles, Going Underground, Boy About Town, Monday, Start, A Bomb in Wardour Street, Strange Town and A Town Called Malice; and with the larynx of Russell Hastings being an exemplary substitute for those of Mr Weller - was it ever in question that "From the Jam" could fail? Not bleedin' likely! A good night had by all and with new music and more gigs to come all is good here, so let's move on. FROM THE JAM

* Just to put the record straight, Bruce Foxton has not only the mightiest mullet in music; he is also the proud possessor of the mightiest mullet in the BRITISH EMPIRE. There is of course only one man alive in the entire world with a mullet of greater significance and that is "King Mullet" Mr Christopher Walken. But Walken can't live for ever, and one day, yes one day, Bruce will be King.

Please note: Bruce Foxton is younger than Brinsley Forde.