The cavernous venue with it’s tunneled walls and high ceiling could not have played a better host for the rock heavy night which laid ahead. The alternative Lola Colt were responsible for filling the already packed venue with electricity. With a leading lady who channelled Annie Lennox in nearly every respect, headbanging soon became contagious throughout the crowd. They were swiftly followed by Post-Punk band Baby Strange who followed the punk recipe of three members playing simple three chord progressions. However with guitar work akin to The Clash, which was played with such raw energy, the crowd were well and truly heated up.

 

It was safe to say that by the time The Men had arrived on stage, everyone had worked up a mass sweat. Nobody had to tell the crowd to start moshing but they began doing so from the very first note. The usual story when I attend punk gigs is that the crowd become so carried away that the band struggle to keep up with the energy in the room. However, midway through their set, The Men had succeeded in tiring out those in the mosh pit as they took a temporary breather. More than halfway through their European tour for their fifth studio album ‘Tomorrow’s Hits’, The Men confessed to being relieved to be back on English speaking turf. The crowd were treated to hearing fresh tracks from the album such as ‘Dark Waltz’ and ‘Different Days’ in a live setting, alongside classic gems such as ‘Lotus’ and ‘If You Leave’.

What makes The Men such a great live experience is that they are pure in their spirit of American Punk Rock and yet still professionally pay so much attention to the details of their song writing. The overhanging speakers which hung from the tunnel ceiling meant that the fast and furious guitar riffs reverberated through all our bones. They certainly knew how to tease the crowd by patiently drawing out their intros, layering it up slowly with bass and drums before sending us into an oblivion with such velocity that we all struggled to match the pace.

Caving in to pressure from the crowd, The Men ended the night with a homage to the roots of punk rock by covering Iggy Pop and The Stooges as an encore. This meant that everyone left that evening with bruises and a dizzy head, both signs of a punk concert gone right.