Reviews

With crunching chords and howling guitar solos stolen from everyone from Thin Lizzy to the Steve Gibbons Band, this was retro with a Marshall stack and Gibson Les Paul tied to it.

What he may not have realised though, is that it was played with a punky abandon and sense of rock’n’roll redemption nicked from inspirational bands like The Clash or Fugazi, all very much exemplified in unlikely front man Craig Finn.

Balding, with specs askew, it was he who set The Hold Steady way above any other gang of reductive rockers tonight. With a declamatory vocal style augmented by tics, asides, and the sort of bouncing not seen in public since the last teddy bears picnic, these were the antics of a genuine showman.

At times, his sad and shady stories about “boys and girls in America having a bad time together” sat uneasily against Tad Kubler’s axe-man heroics, particularly on Party Pit and Southtown Girls: these downbeat songs just aren’t heroic and didn’t suit the storm of rock thrown at them.

However, on Chips Ahoy and You Can Make Him Like You, Tad Kubler’s effortless riffs came into their own and made everyone in the venue swoon in joy and affirmation.

There was no point fighting it. This gig may have been musically backdated and occasionally irritating to an old punk like me, but through a sea of arms of happy punters I could have sworn I saw Rip Van Winkle JR bouncing up and down and looking like he’d never sleep again. Which is, more or less, as high as praise gets.