It’s a cold and wet in the Welsh capital on a Sunday night. It’s also been just over a year since London based “Shame” performed in the very same venue in Cardiff. I’m going into the gig tonight thinking that everyone involved is not going to be up for this. Boy was I wrong!
Coming to the close of their UK tour, punk outfit Shame, finish their dates at home with a show in Cardiff’s Tramshed. It’s coming off of the back of their third album “Food For Worms” which has seem them expand their signature sound even further than the two that proceeded it. As 9pm hits, the band enter the stage to the sound of Coldplay’s “Yellow” which immediately puts a massive grin on all of the faces in the room. That sense of deadpan humour has always been present throughout their work and it’s great to witness it in person. “No more smiles now” jokes frontman Charlie Steen.
Game faces on, the band launch straight into “Alabis”, quite possibly the highlight of their newest release. It takes exactly five seconds for everyone to find the right gear and that sets the tone for the rest of the night. The song sums up everything that is exciting about the band; there is always an underlining edge to everything they write which during the verses they manage to tip-toe across, but when it comes to the chorus; those guitars come crunching in and it’s a glorious release.
It’s then followed by “Fingers Of Steel” which despite not even being out for that long still sees the obeying ground, arms aloft singing along with every word. As soon as the opening notes of “Concrete” ring out, everything opens up that little bit more and the room starts to feel that little more sweatier. It feels like proper punk; with there being almost no difference between the band and the crowd they are one and the same and both are feeding off of one another.
“Six Pack” follows with a similar buzz to it as well. The band are really giving it their all throughout and we’ve already seen Steen in the heat of the pit despite only being a few songs in. To this day, I still think that “Tasteless” is the best track they have recorded to date; coming off of their debut album “Songs Of Praise”. It’s a song that has a brooding darkness to it but also packs one heck of a punch at the same time. There’s a maturity to it which they’ve taken and developed over the last few records they’ve released but personally this one hits differently and I can’t wipe the smile off of my face for the entire three minutes.
We get a breather, but only for a second during “Burning By Design” which starts with its slow build leading to the duelling guitars that punctuate the closing moments of the song. Both “Nigel Hitter” and “Born In Luton” from their second effort and incredibly overlooked album “Drunk Tank Pink” allow everybody to have a proper “bop along”. In my opinion, anything with added cowbell on it is a massive thumbs up from me.
On the final night of the tour, we get a little bonus treat in Wales in the form of “Lampoon” which has its first outing since 2019 and is still played with great precision. It’s almost hard to look at the stage given the strobe lights that are somewhat blinding, but amongst the glimpses one gets, you are immediately drawn to the shapes that Steen throws throughout. He’s captivating to look at from the moment it starts and does not let up throughout. “Snow Day” feels particularly epic tonight. As mentioned previously, it teeters on that edge that they might just explode at any moment and that it does. I can only describe it like it being there are three different songs looking to burst out and that they all simultaneously come together at the end. I mean that as a compliment as well as it is particularly thrilling.
It ends with two more visits from their debut, the first being “One Rizla” and gathers one of the biggest reactions and biggest sing-alongs of the evening. It shows that when they want to go “hard” they can easily do so, but at the same time they can easily have as big an impact but being wonderfully melodic. The previous hour and a bit have all seemed to have just flown by and the crowd are begging for more, but we get a final hurrah in the form of “Angie” which is given every ounce of appreciation from those bodies still with enough energy to do so.
They’re still relatively new to the scene but already they feel as though they’ve been doing it for years, yet still vital with the exuberance of youth behind them. I think it’s fair to say that the British punk scene is very much alive and well and these guys are at the forefront of it all.