From The Jam

27th January 2023

Queens Hall, Edinburgh

We were certainly, this evening, in that grey area between Original Band and Full-Blown Tribute Act.  For both of these acts exist in that perineum of a band's lifespan, which has become remarkably popular these days, of One-Original-Member.....plus.....a bunch of mates.

In The Buzzcocks' case, only guitarist Steve Diggle remains to carry the torch from the band's Seventies heyday.  Buzzcocks's former lead vocalist and main songwriter, the slightly camp but ever-so-likeable, Pete Shelley having died of a suspected heart attack in 2018.  Diggle, to be fair, did pen and sing on a fair few of the songs on those early albums.  But I rather doubt if anyone would have regarded him as anything more than a slightly above-averagely talented sideman to the aforementioned Mr. Shelley.

Now a sprightly 67-year old, Diggle bounced on stage sporting that chemically induced straight, jet-black hair beloved by the likes of Johnny Marr and, until very recently Jeff Beck.  He, rather oddly, also carried on a tambourine which before proceedings began tossed into the air, almost missed catching on the way down, then discarded the thing onto a towel on the stage, and never touched it again.  Why?

What Do I Get, a non-album single from 1977 opened the set.  I have always rather enjoyed this quirky little ditty about teenage sexual frustration, but the muddy sound in the Queens Hall this evening spoiled the performance a tad.  This was perhaps partly my own fault, for I had chosen to migrate to the very back row of the balcony where I could stand to enjoy the bands.  And clearly, with the mixing desk downstairs under the balcony, our mixer man for the evening could not hear the muggy mess we upstairs were enduring.  But the sound gradually improved to acceptable.  

A clutch of tunes with which I was unfamiliar followed, as the band toiled to pad out their set, before Autonomy came along.  Diggle was a bit of a mumbler between songs (if he spoke at all), but I am fairly sure he described this one as "the best song I have ever written".  It is certainly a fine tune, but I rather felt it owed more the heavy metal genre than to any punk ethos. 

And it was only later I sorta realised Diggle had favoured many of the heavier songs in the back catalogue, over a number of the fey ditties which had made the album Love Bites such a joy.  For there was no place for the likes of Operators' Manual, Sixteen Again and E.S.P.  Probably a factor in this decision is Diggle's awareness that he can barely sing for toffee.

For he ended up relying heavily upon the audience to do the hard work with Promises and Ever Fallen in Love.

The set closed with another of his own compositions - and perhaps my favourite Buzzcocks' single - Harmony in My Head, Diggle's paean to the joys of mass consumerism.  The original single represented three minutes of angry snarling and crashing guitars, but here SD stretched the thing out what seemed like interminably.  I appreciate, like Autonomy, it is his tune and he is justifiably quite proud of it.  But this bloated nonsense was little fun at all.

Edinburgh Queens Hall

Buzzcocks - Edinburgh 2023

Mani Perrazoli, Danny Farrant, Steve Diggle, Chris Remington

Set list

What Do I Get?
Senses Out of Control
Strange Machines
I Don't Mind
Sick City Sometimes
Autonomy
Bad Dreams
Why Can't I Touch It?
Third Dimension
Destination Zero
Orgasm Addict
Promises
Manchester Rain
Ever Fallen in Love
Harmony in My Head.


For the From The Jam set, I scuttled downstairs (unreserved seating this evening), where the sound I was pleased to note was much crisper.  From The Jam is, of course, bassist Bruce Foxton's tribute to his former band.  

And the outfit relies very heavily upon the singing and musical talents of Paul Weller impersonator Russell Hastings - who does a pretty decent job it has to be acknowledged.  All the more so given, as he informed us this evening, last year had seen the poor chap have a heart attack.  He did appear fit as the proverbial butcher's dog this evening, though.  

Which was in stark contrast to Bruce Foxton, who did not look a well biddy at all.  He was a long way from the Brian James prop-him-up-against-a-speaker-and-let-him-do-what-he-can situation we witnessed with The Damned recently.  But nevertheless.  I know the chap has suffered from tinnitus for some years, but there did seem like something rather more insidious going on.

Not that it prevented some stunningly dextrous bass work going on.

Pretty much all of The Jam's hits were trotted out, with the surprising exception of Beat Surrender given this tour was named for that final The Jam single.

To sum up then: four top class musicians, performing peerless pop songs from 40-odd years ago, only one of whom played any part in their creation.  But producing rather well re-created renditions for all that.

From The Jam - Edinburgh 2023

Russell Hastings, Mike Randon & Bruce Foxton.
Keys player out of shot.

Set List

Away From the Numbers
Pretty Green
To Be Someone
Start!
In the Crowd
David Watts
Lula
Life From a Window
That's Entertainment
Mr. Clean
Saturday's Kids
Town Called Malice
The Butterfly Collector
Heat Wave
Strange Town
In the City

Encore
The Eton Rifles
Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
Going Underground