8th
July 06 - Finsbury Park, London.
Both acts
were united amongst several other artists' to fight racism. First up was Graham
Coxon. A frail statuesque, yet ferocious and puissant once in grasp of his
guitar-adjusting his guitar he looks wired and set to rumble. Bearing a beret
and dark rimmed glasses the chanteuse look predisposed as the heady rock riffs
awaits the hungry crowd. In no time the emergence of 'Spectacular' surpasses
the vibrancy of the crowd and soon enough there are mosh pits and crowd surfers
catapulted into the throng.
As the
crowd drill out his name aloud- 'Gra-ham, Gra-ham' he hammers into 'I don't
want to go out' which does no justice to quell the frenzy, as the crowd combust
at the grinding guitars. Destruction is set loose as the airtight venue of
fans jump hysterically together. The temperature soon soars further as 'Freakin'
out' is ramped up, receiving the best reception and enabling the crowd to
do exactly so.
As the
rock mayhem continues, Graham's performance certainly coaxed the crowd for
what was to be expected. As The Buzzcocks seize the stage the quartet Pete
Shelley, Steve Diggle, Tony Barber and Danny Farrant fumble around with their
instruments.
In no
time the assemblage of the foursome soon dictated the uncontrollable stridence
of punk pop. A manic response - like canon balls in eighteenth century warfare,
the fans were shot high, but where they landed I dread to think! In true punk
rock fashion, the classic were decked out, 'Harmony in my head' and the mecca
of classics 'What do I get?'
Although
their banter was minimal, The Buzzcocks did haplessly smile to the throng
- reciprocating the bodily endurance of their fans as the mosh pit thickens
and their music heightens to a turbulence peak. In the case where I luckily
escaped the surge of leaping fans at Graham's resilient 'Freakin' out', it
was about to get worse. As the riffs to ' Ever Fallen In Love' are strummed
- it's was officially all over (for me that is!). The crowd automatically
goes berserk to the crazed lyrics and I get swept up in the tidal wave of
strung out arms and legs -oh well! Who said The Buzzcocks have lost their
spark…
