[Spunge] with support from Orange - Birmingham O2 Academy 2 - 16/07/10

Well I am looking forward to tonight, tonight I get to see [Spunge] again, the last time I saw them was back in 2006 and they where on top form. Its just something about their catchy ska punk rhythms and honest silly lyrics that make this band stand out from the rest.

I arrive at the venue at what I thought was a decent time of seven forgetting that it was a Friday and that means early gig starts due to club nights. So after finding out they’ve changed to the bigger venue due to them selling out and a bit of faffing to get my photo pass I get up stairs just as the local support leave the stage, unfortunately I missed all their set and didn’t even get their name.

After a drink and a bit of a wait American band Orange come out on stage to a warm reception. Orange have been going for about 8 years or so with many American and Canadian tours under their belt. With this in mind it surprises me how they don’t really perform amazingly. They’re a pop punk style band which in places reminded me of early Greenday with they’re vocal harmonies and fast beats. Singer Joe Dexter has a good voice that sounds like a cross between Davey Havock and Johnny Rotten, which suit’s the music well. The performance has a few gimmicks and maybe if supporting a different band may have gone down well but even with their singer change half way through, the lights on the mic stand, the megaphone and their cover of Help by The Beatles they just don’t seem to impress the audience. They performed well but just not good enough to win over this crowd of people who are here for some ska punk action. They rap their set up to a nice round of applause and the odd shout of “Get off the stage” .

In the break I take the time to remember all the times I’ve seen [Spunge] in the past, I first saw them first 10 years ago in a leisure centre somewhere near Manchester, I had to travel almost 2 hours to get their and it was worth it they put on a great show and I was blown away with their live show. I’ve seen them about 5 or 6 more times since and every time I’ve been happy with the show. Since the last time I saw them they’ve lost a member due to personal reasons and have released another album and supported bands like the Drop Kick Murphy’s So I am anxious to see how they perform tonight.

The band come on stage to a warm reception from this big crowd of both old and young, ranging from 12 to 60 , which shows their huge appeal over the ages. They kick into “Roots” which goes down a storm and everyone is jumping and getting into the show. They play through a set which covers all 5 of their studio albums, with classics such as “Friend Called Fred” “Ego” and “Home Video”. The crowd are loving their ska punk style and are singing along to every word. Singer Alex Copeland has some good banter with the crowd joking “people say I remember seeing you years ago when I was a kid and now I’m 36” with the bassist Jarvis adding “people say to me are you not dead yet? I can’t believe your still alive!”. Alex and Jarvis continue the chit chat between songs with Jarvis seeming to get more mixed up with his remarks as the set carries on with Alex remarking “you may have noticed Jarv has had a drink tonight!”. The banter is a key part of the of the [Spunge] show as it relaxes the audience and gives them a short break before they get their skanking shoes back on for the next song. The set comes to an end with Kicking Pigeons and the band says good night and exit’s the stage to huge cheers and we think the night is over. But the crowd keep chanting “More, More, More!” and eventually [Spunge] re-appear and inform the crowd how they have time for one more but they haven’t played it in a while so they may be a bit rusty and with that they blast into a cover of “Oliver’s Army” which sounds as good as it did on cd so they had nothing to worry about. The song ends and the crowd disband all impressed with the show.

I thought they played a great set but there seemed to be something missing, I don’t know weather its my nostalgic feelings or weather it’s the fact their a man down but it wasn’t as good as their early gigs I remembered. But even though I wasn’t fully satisfied, I was still impressed that they are still going strong and their songs sound just as fresh as they did ten years ago. But at the end of the day the rest of the crowd loved them and walked away happy with what they’d come to see.

For more photos from the gig go to http://s776.photobucket.com/albums/yy49/AwesomeJimmie/Spunge%20-%20Birmingham%20O2%20Academy%202%20-%2016-07-10/