Live – Post-Punk Music

SPARKS @ EVENTIM APOLLO, LONDON

Following the release of their new album, the Sparks brothers returned to London where they said they first made their fame thanks to an Island records deal and now following the band’s documentary, directed by English filmmaker Edgar Wright. This time they were touring their new studio album, ‘MAD!’, which reached no. 2 in the official album charts, their highest ever charting position. The duo performed two nights in the capital performing for the first time some songs from the new release.

They played one of these catchy new tracks early on in the set with ‘Do Things My Own Way’; its raw audacity being emboldened by beating drums and wirey guitar. They also performed a selection of older tracks in their set that they don’t often do live, such as ‘Reinforcements’ and ‘Academy Award Performance’ and ‘Beat the Clock’ (a top 10 hit), the latter two taken from their seminal 1979 studio album ‘No 1 in Heaven’, produced by the great electro-disco king Giorgio Moroder.

Sparks returned to their new album with ‘Running Up a Tab at the Hotel for the Fab’, featuring Ron’s electrified keys and grizzly, twangy live guitar parts that lifted it off the recorded version against what was mostly a backing tracked song. Ron then stood up to perform the musical number ‘Suburban Homeboy’, from the band’s 2002 album ‘Lil’ Beethoven’. The duo furthermore played two more singles from their new album, ‘Drowned in a Sea of Tears’ – although their backing band were sounding a bit stagnant against Russell’s perfectly pitched vocals – and the minimalist, Kraftwerkesque ‘JanSport Backpack’.

The pair’s main set finished on a series of fan favourites and hits: ‘When Do I Get to Sing “My Way”‘, ‘The Number One Song in Heaven’ and ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us’, performing each track with a streak of originality to their last live renditions to fight back the tedium of nostalgia. They came back on stage for an encore of ‘The Girl is Crying in Her Latte’, from their last also outstanding studio album, humbly connecting to the audience’s applause. The only thing amiss from their set was perhaps one more track from their fantastic new release.

19/06/25: Sparks @ Eventim Apollo, London.

Photos © Ayisha Khan.

IGGY POP @ ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON

Touring his jazz-rock fusion set that appears on his 2023 live album ‘Live at Montreal Jazz Festival’, Iggy Pop, who is somehow still living and putting on raw punk performances, came to the UK for some special shows that included a night at this historic venue. The 2025 tour also saw him perform in other parts of the UK and Europe.

Pop opened on some rock ‘n’ roll classics from The Stooges and Iggy and The Stooges, with singles ‘T.V. Eye’ and ‘Raw Power’, then performing ‘Gimme Danger’ in which its stripped back form you could hear his timeless vocals, still somehow unchanged over all these years. Then the acoustic strums of ‘Passenger’ rang out, with the added bursts of trumpet and saloon piano keys quietening down for a vocal part mid-song.

The singer swiftly moved onto the drumbeats of the monosyllabic instrumental introduction to ‘Lust for Life’ after which, in typical fashion at his shows, he demanded to get close to his fans, which saw him climbing over the barrier into the audience during ‘Loose’ with some assistance from security. His dog bark then signalled the dark riff of 1969 debut Stooges’ single, ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, which was also complimented with a liquid guitar pedal solo that could have been ramped up even more. Their 1973 single ‘Search and Destroy’ was played in a big band style with a spectacular guitar solo which was also seen in ‘Down on the Street’. There was a cool jazz intro for the final Iggy and The Stooges cover, ‘I’m Sick of You’, which then exploded into a big band bash.

Pop sang the ditty medley of ‘L.A. Blues’/’Nightclubbing’ and ended his set on the rhythm and blues cover ‘Real Wild Child (Wild One)’ by The Dee Jays and ‘Funtime’ from his 1977 debut solo album, ‘The Idiot’. Not requiring an encore for a rock star of this calibre, at the end of the show, Pop exited the stage in a black coffin with a closed lid which was wheeled off with him inside from which then he suddenly popped out from, no doubt a stunt playing with the idea of his own (im)mortality. Punk’s not dead for this aged rocker.

28/05/25: Iggy Pop @ Alexandra Palace, London.

Photos © Anna Mascherani/Nocturna Photography.

SISTERS OF MERCY @ ROUNDHOUSE, LONDON

Performing their traditional biennial double live dates at the Roundhouse, the Sisters of Mercy returned with a lineup that now includes a brilliant new guitarist following the departure of Dylan Smith. The recruiting of Kai’s (Esprit D’Air) talent has completely transformed the band from their previous stagnation in the last few years, especially considering the rapport he has with frontman Andrew Eldritch and his ability to sing in a more ambiguous vocal style, recognising the importance of female backing singers on the band’s studio albums.

The strong guitar sound was immediately noticeable in the Sisters’ opening song medley of ‘Doctor Jeep/Detonation Boulevard’, and then snaking its way around ‘Don’t Drive on Ice’, the fast paced riff of 1982 single ‘Alice’, the pastel tones of the stripped back ‘Dominion/Mother Russia’ and the paranoid nasality of ‘Summer’, with its macabre finish. The beating temper of Marian also married synth with more nasal guitar. The band’s amalgamation of sound continued in the chiming keys of ‘Quantum Baby’, also with ambient washes throughout, each instrument perfectly audible with the best sound quality by this band in years.

The naval keys of ‘More’ then rang out and the post-punk guitar of ‘But Genevieve’, but perhaps the most stand-out song of the night was acoustic track ‘I Was Wrong’, taken from 1990’s ‘Vision Thing’ – performed at their last London shows it now benefitted from excellent sound and a perfect complimentary duality between the two guitarists, with Kai on acoustic and Ben Christo on electric doing a solo; the sparking embers of both guitars reached their peak in ‘Here’. The Sisters have successfully restored the trademark guitar sound of the band captured on their studio releases. They ended their main set on ‘Temple of Love’ with Kai bellowing out tribal cries during the song.

After a short break the band returned for their encore in its entirety taken from their 1987 studio album ‘Floodland’, which began on the spectral instrumental of ‘Never Land (A Fragment)’, to the weaving guitar of ‘Lucretia My Reflection’ and with the final song in the set typically being ‘This Corrosion’, which was sung by the entire venue. This was truly the best live sound by this band in a long time and of many shows in the capital this year; the band are in want of new recorded material but this wholly makes up for it.

25/05/25: Sisters of Mercy @ Roundhouse, London.

Photos © E. Gabriel Edvy/Blackswitch Labs.

WILLIAM BASINKSI @ UNION CHAPEL, LONDON

The experimental American composer performed a short electronic set inside the iconic venue. It began on burning, solarised white noise minimalism which he manipulated controls over, creating ethereal, howling frequencies and then a transition to a soothing, ambient synth with mingling, ghostly glistening frequencies like an aurora borealis of sound.

The final stage of the unbroken piece of trance music saw beams and gradations of synthscapes that gave the feeling of dark and immersive cosmic exploration, finally reducing to a set of crackles at the end.

22/04/25: William Basinski @ Union Chapel, London.

Photos © Ayisha Khan.

SCANNER + FENNESZ @ ST JAMES’ CHURCH, LONDON

Robin Rimbaud, the artist behind Scanner, began his 45-minute set on voice chatter reminiscent of his early releases such as ‘Scanner 1’, ‘Spore’ and ‘Sulfur, then switching to am ambient dual toned hum that developed into strained cavernous clanging and surging white noise electronics.

He added some vocals midway through against what sounded like a Microsoft computer chime, with chiming continuing as he explored an ambient landscape with frequency distortions. His set also saw fluttering wavelengths that turned into tribal beats.

Austrian producer Fennesz headlined the evening with a 50-minute set, beginning on a gushing waterfall of sound, then introducing the gentle guitar strokes of ‘Heliconia’ from his 2024 studio album ‘Mosaic’, which he played live. He continued to perform from his new album tracks that went from a mix of constant noise feedback with a throbbing drone bassline to the tubular orchestral symphony of sound in ‘Goniorizon’. Both sets filled the beautiful choice of venue with ambient sounds that sent the audience into a trance.

11/04/25: Scanner + Fennesz @ St James’ Church, London.

Photos © E. Gabriel Edvy/Blackswitch Labs.

SEX PISTOLS FT FRANK CARTER @ ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON

As part of the Teenage Cancer Trust series of events at the Royal Albert Hall, the Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter performed the band’s seminal 1977 debut album ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ as part of a wider tour the remaining original members, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock, have taken to the road nationally and internationally since they reformed the band without frontman John Lydon last summer.

Opening on ‘Holidays in the Sun’ and soon after performing ‘Pretty Vacant’ – with Jones’ rusty, heavy guitar sound – it soon became evident that it was sacrilege to have Carter, with his rough, scraggy voice, desecrate the classics, but he worked the audience well, diving into it to crowd-surf during the latter song. He also did a much better job at his favourite song, ‘Bodies’, as he struggled to get back on stage with Jones and Matlock singing on backing vocals.

Carter also performed vocals from the middle of a circle pit he whipped up for ‘Silly Thing’, although his crowd surfing did interfere in his abilities to keep up the verses and took attention away from the founding members on stage. The band’s infamous single, ‘God Save the Queen’, sounded more like a karaoke act; Carter having a brattier voice than Lydon, although he kept up the rhythm of the song in time and egged the whole venue into singing, “No future” to finish the track when his jokes had otherwise dropped short.

One of the best moments of the night, however, came in the way of cover track ‘No Fun’ by the Stooges, which saw Jones’ perform a melting pedal guitar solo and band introductions with further solos by each member, the unpretentious Jones playing a single high pitched note on his Les Paul Custom that was amazingly reminiscent of a synth key. Carter also handled ‘Problems’ with brute force.

The Pistols returned for an encore that included ‘My Way’ in homage to Sid Vicious’ solo cover of the 1969 Sinatra classic, with Jones and Matlock sitting down for the number that Carter could not be faulted for effort. They ended the night on ‘Anarchy in the UK’, with its chorus ringing out from the whole venue and injecting some energy into what was otherwise a dull and corporate evening. Although the three members have done well to bring back the original music for a new generation of listeners, doing so without frontman Johnny Rotten has alienated such famous lyrics from the music creating a strange separation of elements with this line-up.

24/03/25: Sex Pistols ft Frank Carter @ Royal Albert Hall, London.

NEGATIVE APPROACH + CIRCLE JERKS @ O2 SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE, LONDON

Negative Approach and Circle Jerks joined Descendents on their European tour, with the former on support and fronted by John Brannon, whose vocals consist of primal screaming and plenty of angst. They performed from their only studio album ‘Tied Down’ including favourites such as ‘Pressure’, ‘Evacuate’ and their single ‘Dead Stop’, with its tribal drumming, as well as the marching beats of ‘Live Your Life’. They were later joined on stage by guest Thurston Moore, who played guitar with them on ‘Genocide’ and ‘Nothing’, the former of which saw him perform an earth shattering noise introduction and the latter with humming, high pitched guitar feedback before Brannon broke into the lyrics.

The band also covered Sham 69’s ‘Borstal Breakout’.

Circle Jerks hail from the punk rock melting pot of Southern California, with Morris naming The Weirdos, The Alleycats, The Last, Black Flag, Redd Kross and LA’s Wasted Youth as some of the bands from the region. Formed of founding members Keith Morris (vocals) and Greg Hetson (guitar), along with Xander Schloss (bass) and new drummer Joey Castillo, the band went straight into the opening track on their 1980 debut album, ‘Group Sex’, with ‘Deny Everything’, which they followed by ‘Stars and Stripes’ which featured a guitar solo by Hetson. They then performed the band’s well known tracks from the same album, ‘Back Against the Wall’ and the clattering drums of ‘I Just Want Some Skank’, with the latter meshing into the dark riffs of ‘Beverly Hills’. Morris then issued a disclaimer about the band not spreading the word of the US government.

They moved onto the next block of tracks, this time from the band’s 1983 studio album, ‘Golden Shower of Hits’, playing songs that Morris co-wrote with Hetson, including ‘When the Shit Hits the Fan’, the dual layers of ‘Under the Gun’ as well as ‘Coup d’Etat’, with Morris’ trademark screaming vocals. They played their Garland Jeffreys cover of ‘Wild in the Streets’, taken from their second studio album of the same name, which Morris said was the closest to a ‘punk rock hit’ that they ever had and reminiscing about it receiving airplay on Southern California’s KROQ radio alongside Agent Orange, The Adolescents and Amoeba. Circle Jerks then returned to their debut album with early song, ‘Live Fast Die Young’. Morris shared some more hardcore history with the audience; growing up with bands such as The Germs, The Screamers, X, The Eyes, Controllers and Middle Class, he explained the origin of cover track ‘I, I & I’, which was co-written by The Flesh Eaters’ Chris Desjardins (Chris D.) and The Plugz’ Tito Larriva and features on Circle Jerks’ ‘Wonderful’ album. They also further into their later albums with ‘I Don’t’, written by Hetson and Schloss for the band’s 1987 ‘VI’ album.

Circle Jerks ended their set on more songs from ‘Group Sex’ including ‘World Up My Ass’, ‘Wasted’ and ‘Red Tape’ and the band’s cover of the Soft Boys’ ‘I Wanna Destroy You’.

15/03/25: Negative Approach + Circle Jerks @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London.