To mark 30 years since the establishment of their label, Cleopatra Records hosted a night of their bands with support sets from two punk acts; the recently reformed Eater as well as 999, with Jah Wobble and his The Invaders of The Heart lineup performing a special headline set.
It was the first time Wobble had performed his ‘Metal Box – Rebuilt In Dub’ album in full, which was released through Cleopatra last year, playing with the addition of guest guitarist Jon Klein (The Banshees) on Keith Levene’s parts, who sadly recently passed away following the date of this show.
They began with Wobble sitting down in ‘Albatross’ and Klein playing McGeoch-style guitar, with George Kings’ added gothic keyboard and electronic effects. The band then moved onto ‘Memories’; Klein’s warbling guitar combing through Wobble’s marching basslines.
Following a more Invaders of The Heart rendition of ‘Public Image’ as opposed to the more PiL version on the record, Wobble read out the lyrical introduction to the beginning of ‘Poptones’ before playing his famous bassline; the track turned into a stripped down dub piece with Wobble beating it out on Tom Toms.
Wobble’s bass balancing yoga poses ensued during ‘Fodderstompf’, he then performed ‘Swan Lake’, the demented guitar riff transforming into the serene keyboard interlude and Wobble’s funky basslines. The band finished their set on ‘Socialist’ with its reverberating basslines and noise guitar.
26/10/22: Cleopatra Records 30th Anniversary – Jah Wobble @ O2 Academy Islington, London.
Photos © 2022 Per-Åke Wärn.
© Ayisha Khan.