*HEADLINING* FEAR @ CLUB CASBAH
Reformed with their original lineup for the first time in 25 years, LA hardcore punk band Fear did their first Rebellion and UK show after cancelling their appearance at the festival three years ago. The band lineup is formed of original vocalist and founder Lee Ving, with original guitarist Philo Cramer and original drummer Spit Stix.
Ving, noticeably more senile in his 69th year, began proceedings with ?, then moved onto ‘Fuck You, Let’s Rodeo’ and ‘I Believe I’ll have another Beer’, which the band immediately followed with ‘More Beer’ from their second album of the same name. They regressed back to their 1978 debut single ‘I Love Livin’ In The City’ and further tracks from their 1982 debut album, ‘The Record’, including ‘Beef Boloney’.
Between songs Ving made sexist and homophobic comments that the band used to stir up the audience back in the day and introduced one song with, “It’s great to be in New Jersey!”, which received boos from the New York audience at the band’s disatrous 1981 Saturday Night Live performance. They played ‘New York’s Alright If You Like Saxaphones’, a song coined from a comment made by Minor Threat’s Ian Mackaye at SNL, and then did ‘I Don’t Care About You’, which the band performed in the 1981 documentary, ‘The Decline of Western Civilization.’
Fear ended their generous 17-song setlist on ‘Let’s Have A War’, the final track at SNL when their set was cut short. Ving left the stage saying they wouldn’t be back right away but “real soon.”
01/08/19: Fear @ Arena, Blackpool Winter Gardens.
Photos © Ayisha Khan.
© Ayisha Khan.