The Stranglers at The Dome, Thursday. (6th March)

Gregory2 said:

I had a similiar experience to this for the Meninblack tour

up until then it had been RN,NMH,B&W and The Raven

The Meninblack album came as a huge shock and obviously for that tour they had to promote their new material,which I struggled to get into at that time

but now I've come to really like that album,Just Like Nothing On Earth,Second Coming,Four Horsemen and Hallow To Our Men,I consider good Stranglers songs,not classics,but good

I agree with you,the 40th anniversary should of been a celebration of all their classics,espcially as JJ is talking of calling it a day if they have to continue without Jet,which looks very likely

anyone have the songlist?

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Uncle Spielberg said:

I have to report, sadly this was the worst gig of the 5 in a row I have seen at the Brighton Dome. Not because they were bad, they very very very good as usual. They are brilliant musicians. It did not really get going for me as they played far too many of their obscure songs. Everyone knows the Stranglers have 40 or so superb songs from their back catalogue but also after The Raven album rather a lot of, er, not so good songs.

They for whatever reason decided to play far too many of the not so good songs. Even I as a devotee struggled to recognise half a dozen of the songs. In the first 45 minutes and around 10 songs, they played 3 most people would recognise. My friend as a result started to lose interest and thought the bar would be a better option. A good song that got the atmosphere going was followed by 3 " arthouse " songs.

For me , I want to see the aggressive and far better songs from the first 4 albums. No Stranglers gig without Down in the Sewer, Walk on By, There's always the Sun, Nuclear Device, The Raven, Toiler on the Sea, Sweden, Sometimes and many others can ever be a classic. Greenfield was also not able to shine and showcase his brilliance without in particular Down in the Sewer and Walk on By. Why would you play an obscure song and not Walk on by ?

The gig got some momentum at the end but it was sort of, too late by then. The final disappointment was Jet Black being taken ill. Good but could have been so much better and I hate to say that.

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Pinkie Brown said:

Pretty much agree with all this. For an anniversary show there was rather too much obscure material. The balance between the more populist stuff and lesser known wasn't right.

I still enjoyed it, but with a different setlist it could have been so much better. Its ironic that both Stranglers gigs I've seen where they haven't been at their best have both been at the Dome. I went to one there circa 1981 ish where they were booed by some as I remember. When Hugh Cornwell was disinterested, they may as well not bothered and given everyone their money back. One thing Baz Warne could never be accused of is disinterest when performing live.

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23.
Norfolk Coast

Something Better Change

Golden Brown

Tank

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Uncle Spielberg said:

1.
London Lady



2.
No More Heroes



3.
Coup de Grace



4.
Was It You?



5.
Threatened



6.
Summat Outanowt



7.
Peasant in the Big Shitty



8.
Peaches



9.
Still Life



10.
Midnight Summer Dream



11.
Thrown Away



12.
Never To Look Back



13.
Tramp



14.
Skin Deep



15.
Time to Die



16.
Lowlands



17.
Valley of the Birds



18.
Nice 'N' Sleazy



19.
North Winds



20.
Freedom Is Insane



21.
Hanging Around



22.
5 Minutes



23.
Norfolk Coast

Something Better Change

Golden Brown

Tank

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Gregory2 said:

nothing off the Raven?

always thought Nuclear Device is great live

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Uncle Spielberg said:

They did Duchess and Golden Brown.

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Gregory2 said:

Golden Brown is off La Folie US

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Uncle Spielberg said:

I have to report, sadly this was the worst gig of the 5 in a row I have seen at the Brighton Dome. Not because they were bad, they very very very good as usual. They are brilliant musicians. It did not really get going for me as they played far too many of their obscure songs. Everyone knows the Stranglers have 40 or so superb songs from their back catalogue but also after The Raven album rather a lot of, er, not so good songs.

They for whatever reason decided to play far too many of the not so good songs. Even I as a devotee struggled to recognise half a dozen of the songs. In the first 45 minutes and around 10 songs, they played 3 most people would recognise. My friend as a result started to lose interest and thought the bar would be a better option. A good song that got the atmosphere going was followed by 3 " arthouse " songs.

For me , I want to see the aggressive and far better songs from the first 4 albums. No Stranglers gig without Down in the Sewer, Walk on By, There's always the Sun, Nuclear Device, The Raven, Toiler on the Sea, Sweden, Sometimes and many others can ever be a classic. Greenfield was also not able to shine and showcase his brilliance without in particular Down in the Sewer and Walk on By. Why would you play an obscure song and not Walk on by ?

The gig got some momentum at the end but it was sort of, too late by then. The final disappointment was Jet Black being taken ill. Good but could have been so much better and I hate to say that.

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Spencer Vignes said:

Having seen The Stranglers at Cardiff University, something tells me that whoever writes their set list probably reads North Stand Chat. One or two obscurities for sure, but many of the big hitters were in there - Walk On By, Duchess, No More Heroes, Five Minutes, Nuclear Device, Golden Brown, Hanging Around, Peaches, Tank, Nice 'N' Sleazy, Something Better Change, Skin Deep, All Day And All Of The Night.....and that's just off the top of my head.

Sadly no Jet Black again - let's face it, he's 76 this year. I can't see any man that age being able to keep rhythm in a band as formidable, powerful, loud etc live as The Stranglers. I don't think he's ill, but just easing himself into a well earned retirement.

All in all a good gig, helped by the venue. Cardiff Uni is fairly small and they were unable to get all the back projectors in. As a result there were no visuals, just the band playing in front of a big 'The Stranglers' banner, all of which made it feel like a good old no-nonsense back-to-basics gig. A sell-out crowd as well, so you got that hot sweaty feel. And my ears are still ringing!

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Uncle Spielberg said:

Spencer it could be The Stranglers management scrutinise NSC for reviews but I doubt it. You got Walk on Bye and I was waiting for that all night and Nuclear Device. Maybe they did Down in the Sewer ? Overall everytime I have seen them recently I have been buzzing for weeks, this time it was meh and I never thought I would say that. An overiding feeling of disapointment set in. A lost opportunity at The Dome this year for me. Maybe next year ? We can only hope.

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Gregory2 said:

Jet played 3 songs at Pompey,including Genetix

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Pinkie Brown said:

Who's going? Really looking forward to this.

This will be the first time I've seen them in the post Hugh era. I saw them three times when he was with the band from 77 onwards. After 1990 I went into a self imposed exile as The Stranglers without Hugh Cornwell seemed so wrong. Having heard great live reviews and watched many clips of Baz Warne, the band sound fantastic with him as frontman. Is there life after Hugh Cornwell after all?

Roll on tomorrow night.

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