The Buzzcocks - Cambridge Junction - 21/4/03
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
That a band as seminal and legendary as The Buzzcocks are still plugging away on the medium/small venue circuit is a truly bizarre thing. The Clash might have had the righteous politics and The Sex Pistols the iconic look, but it was the four young Manchester lads that were perhaps the first to successfully, truly marry pop hooks with a punk edge. Thus, to this day, their material still echoes a distinctive, flourishing favouritism over much of the band's original competition, an influence as defined as it now aged.
And of the original 1977 line-up, only vocalist Pete Shelley and guitarist Steve Diggle remain. Shelley in particular, truthfully, looks his age (even rock gods can't avoid receding hairlines and ever-expanding waistlines), but - admirably - they don't for a second appear to be taking themselves too seriously.
Hell, can they still play, though. The influence that their patented brand of two-minute, three chord power-pop exhilaration - most significantly as rubbed off on bands such as Green Day - is undeniable; The Buzzcocks made punk both fun and accessible: and the likes of Blink 182, The Offspring and Bowling For Soup owe them a massive debt.
With meaty, ebullient audience-roars growling throughout this rather-attended performance, new material slinking seamlessly alongside classic fayre, it's the encore that really excels - in which the band rattle through their trio of famous late 70s singles, 'Orgasm Addict', 'What Do I Get?' and, of course, 'Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't Have)?'. Classically superb.
... Never mind The Buzzcocks? Ha - you don't know what you're missing.
Artists in this article: The Buzzcocks
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