LIVE REVIEW: Stiff Little Fingers - The Rosemount Hotel Perth

This year Perth gets treated to the first date on Stiff Little Fingers 40th Anniversary Tour which for us at least has managed to creep into their 41st year.

After a break since the November European dates the band is fresh and ready for action but before we get to that, what a crowd! The Rosemount is creaking at the rafters with fans, a fair proportion of whom are sporting SLF T-Shirts that cover a large proportion of those years. The oldest I see (and from the wear and tear it looks like an original) dates back to the 70’s. Now that’s impressive, and so too is the build up with a slice of songs on the intro tape which would have been nestled in the charts even before SLF were a going concern.

It’s a hot and sweaty crowd that greets the band with beers aloft and the chant starts along with the ubiquitous opening tape of ‘Go For It’. There’s a roar when the band saunter on and launch into the evergreen ‘Wasted Life’ which bursts into life against that roar and neatly explodes into ‘Fade Away’ before ‘Straw Dogs’ completes the fieriest of opening salvos.

“Songs from the dark ages of the first four albums” Jake tells us before introducing a song from their latest album ‘Dark Places’ a song about depression that Jake tells us some of us deal with on a daily basis. It’s a song that has all the SLF hallmarks but also one that (as is so often the fate of new material) doesn’t register the same level of sing-along of the openers.

‘Safe as Houses’ is preceded by Jake telling us that he looks at SLF’s career in two stages – the first four albums and the later material. It’s more of that early material that ensues with ‘Breakout’ one of Jake’s favourites from ‘Go For It’ getting an airing as he shuffles back and to the mic onstage to deliver his trademark roar.

Elsewhere on stage bassist Ali McMordie looks his usual wary self, occasionally sipping at his beer whilst guitarist Ian McCallum, ever present since 1993, roams the small Rosemount stage with comfortable menace and Steve Grantley on drums lays down those wonderful SLF beats lost in his task.

“Thank you very much” Jake says as he accepts the cheers after the song he tells us was the second ever he wrote for the band finishes. ‘Breakout’ indeed is a rare treat and judging by the crowd a welcome addition to the set-list.

The highlight of any SLF show for me and the song that really turned my head and got me into the band ‘At the Edge’ comes next introduced by those classic jungle drums and roaring riff – it’s an angry song and comes bursting out of the speakers and it sports ‘that’ solo,so simple and so perfect. I’m speechless and the crowd gives it the biggest cheer so far.

There’s a comical introduction to ‘Barbed Wire Love’ as Jake warns us of Ali’s impending vocal (‘Only in the chorus’) and the backing from the crowd is something to behold as the song, shot through as it is with its ‘Doo Wop’ breakdown does indeed see Ali hitting the low notes with grace and aplomb!

‘Is That What You Fought the War’ comes as the first real deviation from last years set-list, it’s a song that as Jake tells us is from their “Red haired stepson of an album” (The final track from ‘Now Then’ their fourth) and it’s one that has only ever had a handful of live outings making it a real treat.

Once we’ve got over that gem it’s the unmissable beat of ‘Roots, Radicals, Rockers and Reggae’ that mellows us out before we are led back to the newer sounds of ‘When We Were Young’; and the mesmerizing and heartfelt ‘Strummerville.’

If Perth thought that the opening of the show had been explosive then the quick-fire thrust of ‘Nobody’s Hero’; ‘Tin Soldiers’ and ‘Suspect Device’ blow the roof off the place. There’s more banter of course from Jake but we won’t spoil it for you.

Bob Marley’s ‘Johnny Was’ kicks off the rush towards the end of the night and it’s one of the best cover songs you’ll ever hear and one the crowd clearly loves judging by the applause and shouts that greet it and bookmark it.

To end, and as those that have seen Fingers over the years will know, there can only be one encore and it’s made up of two songs that defined an era, marked SLF as one of the most influential bands of the Punk era and put a big dirty dent in musical history. ‘Gotta Get Away’ leads that charge ad it’s as infectious as ever tonight with the whole room living a breathing it before the spiky and abrasive ‘Alternative Ulster’ reminds us where it all began (well almost it was their second single and we’d had their first). It’s simply the most glorious way to say goodbye to Perth and hello to the rest of Australia.

If you want to see a show this year that lifts you up and puts a huge grin on your face you can’t miss this – Fingers are unmissable! There’s more than a few here tonight who are making their way East for the rest of the tour.