Suicide

Saw them a year or so ago and they were pretty cool. Extreme don't-give-a-fuck attitude, loud and pounding music, belligerent vocals that make Mark E Smith sound like Roger McGuinn.

I saw them maybe 4/5 years ago, at the Garage in London (poss. the worst venue in the WORLD). They were pretty loud (tho' not as loud as Panasonic, who were supporting) and certainly gave the performance their all - Martin Rev was a surprisingly energetic on-stage groover. Problem was, they'd obv upgraded their gear since the 70s, so their sound had lost that wonderful single-minded simplicity - it all sounded a bit too Meat Beat Manifesto, you dig?

saw them at The garage gig and then again at the mean fiddler in 2002. Wicked wicked wicked

(photo by me!!)

i saw them at the garage after pansonic years ago and i hadn't ever seen em before, just the first record, i creased up for ages when two funny cartoonish guys came on stage, and played, it was good but it was a bit odd after i'd built their image up so much in my head.

I adore them, and they're worth seeing, but I don't know how "good" they are--in fact, watching them, we marveled at how crap it all sounded live: such ridiculous, tacky "industrial" drum sounds, and lame versions of old songs. Alan Vega looked for all the world like a homeless person ranting over the beats, covered in patches and dangling rags, and a ludicrous head-wrap, Rev looking like Don Knotts in a bondage outfit.

But if you think about it, it's music that has always confronted standards of taste and good quality, part of what has made them so unbearable to so many for so long, caused riots, etc.

--needless to say I ended up appreciating it quite a lot, not least for the perspective it gave me on what the band has achieved