26/6/2011 Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg/Bermondsey Joyriders/Bubblegum Screw @ Islington Academy

Subject	Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg/Bermondsey Joyriders/Bubblegum Screw @ Islington Academy
DateCreated	7/5/2011 3:12:00 PM
	I'm actually going to Islington Academy tonight to see the support bands rather than the headline act tonight. I manage to arrive at a reasonable time for once, but for reasons that don't matter here my ticket arrives later than I do - the result being that I only get into the venue as Bubblegum Screw are playing their last song.  It's only the second time I've seen the band's new lineup but things seem to be gelling well and Mark is energetically throwing in all his best Jagger/Johansen moves. For a London band Bubblegum Screw have a very strong New York trash vibe. Next up are the Bermondsey Joyriders. This lot are currently one of my favourite live rock 'n' roll bands and have a strong visual and musical identity of their own. The band started their show by 'smashing things up' - trashing their guitars at the beginning instead ending the show that way. Fortunately, they just happened to have some other guitars to hand to continue the show. Like at their recent 100 Club show they are joined once again by John Sinclair ex-manager of the legendary and highly influential MC5. This continues the band's 'Noise and Revolution' theme to promote their new album. The infamous Detroit revolutionary and band manager introduced songs from the new album by reciting some specially written words on punk rock and revolution. I was a bit dubious when I first heard of this idea, but I thought it worked out surprisingly well. Bermondsey Joyriders must be one of the best dressed rock 'n' roll bands around at the moment, which along with some punk attitude makes them quite unmistakable - although ex-Chelsea (the band not the football team) bassist Martin Stacey looks more of a sharp dressed man than a punk these days! This band must feature members of more 'name' punk bands than any other around at the moment - their usual drummer is punk legend Rat Scabies, but as he is otherwise engaged in the studio tonight his place on the drum stool is taken by Eddie from classic '77 style punk outfit The Vibrators. At the risk of being contraversial - I think Eddie is better than Rat tonight. Ex-Cock Sparrer man Gary Lammin fronts the band and is brimming with punk attitude, while also playing a lot of slide guitar - which would be unthinkable to most punk musicians, but really gives the Bermondsey Joyriders a sound of their own. I really enjoy the band's show tonight - my only disappointment being that as they are promoting new album old favourites like 'Cafe Racer' and 'You What' are left out of the set.  And so onto the headliners. I've seen Marky Ramone playing a set of Ramones song before, when he had Alex and Clare from AntiProduct in his band. For reasons only known to Marky and his management they have since been replaced - and the band has suffered for it. Alex and Clare LOVED the Ramones and it showed in their energetic performances, but the new guys just seem like hired hands, and not very good ones at that. The new singer is Michale Graves from the Misfits - hence the large number of Misfits T-shirts in the crowd tonight. Joey Ramone he ain't - but then again how could you ever replace him? To be fair, Graves doesn't even try to copy Joey. The other two new guys are unknowns. Neither of them make any effort to look or act like Johnny and Dee Dee - maybe this is just as well. Actually, Zuri the bassist from opening act Bubblegum Screw would make a very convincing Dee Dee Ramone and would fit in Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg far better than the current guy who is bigger on showboating than paying tribute to a punk rock legend. Not surprisingly, Marky is the best musician in the band - well he ought to be after spending so many years playing all the Ramones classics and playing the patented trademark Ramones cymbal part better than original drummer Tommy. The guitarist and bass player aren't terrible or anything, but they just don't seem to make much of an effort or sound much like Johnny and Dee Dee. The first part of the show is pretty much what you'd expect - non stop (literally) Ramones classics fired off at breakneck speed - every song started with the classic Wuntoofreeforr - with the actual song usually starting at a different speed than the count-in. So we get a load of the classic songs we want to hear. Then it all goes a bit wrong. The band leave the stage, as if for an encore - although it seems a bit early for that. Then a roadie brings onto the stage a single stool - and an acoustic guitar... This leaves a lot of people going WTF???!!!! Acoustic Ramones? No actually. Michale Graves appears and sits himself down on the stool. He starts playing Misfits songs with the acoustic guitar. This isn't what I paid to see.  After a couple of Misfits songs he plays one of his own. By now I'm so bored and so disgusted I'm on the verge of walking out.  Then the rest of the band finally return. Great - we're going to hear a load more Ramones songs now? No - they start playing Misfits songs. Again - this isn't what I paid to see. Marky thanks Michale and calls him "The best singer the Misfits ever had" - a statement which is quite obviously untrue - as anyone who has ever heard Glen Danzig will testify.  Call me naive, but I was expecting Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg to play non-stop Ramones songs all night. They do eventually finish their Misfits set with a not very good version of 'Blitzkrieg Bop' - my band play it better than they did. I feel cheated.  Having avoided the venue's overpriced and piss-poor variety bar I head back to the 'Spoons pub upstairs for some surprisingly good quality and cheap ale - something I should have done a lot earlier. Great support bands, but the most disappointing headliners I've seen in a long time.