SHAM 69
SUB 89 READING
Reading is swiftly becoming a must-do stopover point for touring bands of a particular vintage, style and popularity. The Sub 89, Readipop, South Streets Arts Centre, The Hexagon, The Purple Turtle and The Face Bar venues are all pushing a town made famous by biscuits back into the custard cream musical limelight. Tonight it’s punk ‘n Oi! Heroes Sham 69 taking over the bustling Sub 89. The bar is jammed with mainly middle-aged men quaffing pints in tight Fred Perry’s and casual football clobber, plus the usual Fingers, Sparrer and Pistols T-shirts. Sham 69 takes to the stage with little or no fanfare and launches into ‘What Have We Got’ with Jimmy Pursey leading the enthusiastic Friday night crowd through the chorus chant of “f*ck all”. The engaging frontman with a piercing stare holds court as ‘Ulster Boy’, ‘Rip Off’ and a speedy ‘Bastille Cake’ fly past. ‘George Davis Is Innocent’ is followed by a rollicking ‘Borstal Breakout’ and the perfect aural pocket-sized snapshot of Seventies teenage exasperation on ‘That’s Life’. The hits now flow as ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’ see a few a pints get launched while ‘Questions And Answers’ remains a poetic clip round the ear of classic Sham. A cover of ‘White Riot’ garners a raucous audience reaction before the double trouble anthem encore. Top ten smash ‘Hersham Boys’ punches the TOTP nostalgic sweet spot, whereas ‘Hurry Up Harry’ could raise the dead with its futile tea-time chorus and Punk ‘N’ Roll riff. At under sixty minutes, it’s a short sharp shock of a gig, but in fairness to the band, they wasted no stage time and used no (show) filler. Sham 69 will always be the name badly spray-painted on a suburban train station wall, and their timeless tunes reflect this moth-eaten underdog with sharp teeth spirit. Pursey’s Sham deliberately and professionally gives their punters what they want when they want it, and there’s f*ck all wrong with that.