Inflammable Material

Coming a little late to the punk scene, Stiff Little Fingers (named after a Vibrators’ song) followed in the footsteps of The Clash by writing overtly political songs, largely about “the troubles” in Northern Ireland. Their gritty sound also mirrored that of The Clash and they even included a reggae number on their first album but they were no copycat band and I loved them. If I could possibly put together a list of my favourite singles of all time, “Alternative Ulster” would be on it.

Stiff Little Fingers at Manchester Apollo May 28th 1979

Stiff Little Fingers at Manchester Polytechnic October ?? 1979

Stiff Little Fingers at London Astoria December 10th 1992

Stiff Little Fingers at London Forum March 25th 2011

I first saw them at Manchester Apollo in 1979 and have seen them several times since. When moving from London up to Sunderland I needed a gig to say goodbye to the place and out of what was available, it seemed only fitting that I picked one of theirs. I was son inspired by them whilst a student that one of my course mates even managed to get me to pen a review for the student union newspaper - my one and only appearance in a journalistic capacity. It’s rubbish but here it is anyway:

NO BLOOD OR TEARS BUT LOTS OF SWEAT

When writing about a band like “Stiff Little Fingers”, several words immediately spring to mind such as ‘dead ace’ or ‘superb’. This was definitely the case on Tuesday night at the Polytechnic.

“The Donkeys”, a Liverpool band of some repute played an excellent, but unfortunately 15 years too late, gig. The close harmonies seemed to have stepped straight out of the “Merseybeat” era and their rendition of “Please, Please Me” could easily have passed for the “Fab Four”.

Last time round, S.L.F. played the Apollo and have regretted it ever since but the Factory was too small & they didn’t know the Poly existed. The Poly is certainly the happy medium in both size & sound quality.

S.L.F. charged straight into “Alternative Ulster” and from that moment on it promised to be a great night. They played a well balanced mixture of old & new songs & the new songs seemed to have more power, more depth & more musical ability than all the old favourites, without losing the S.L.F. identity.  If the other songs off the new album are half as good as the ones they played, then it will certainly be a biggie. Finishing off with “Wasted Life”, S.L.F. left the stage to overwhelming applause, cheers & whistles.

In the usual style of S.L.F., the encore was silly, the 1st song was stupid but superb & “State of Emergency” superb. Despite 5 minutes of cheering, they failed to return for a 2nd encore, but what a fantastic concert.