Stiff Little Fingers, O2 Academy Bournemouth (From Dorset Echo)

Stiff Little Fingers, O2 Academy Bournemouth

1:11pm Tuesday 9th March 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(3)

SOMETHING I’d imagine doesn’t happen in the days of downloads is being so impressed by an album’s artwork that you give it a listen. It happened to me more than 25 years ago when I was a student and joined a record library. The album was Go For It by Stiff Little Fingers and I wasn’t disappointed.

It turned me into a fan so to see them in my home town at such an ideal venue was an opportunity not to miss. For those who enjoyed their first four albums above their more recent work, this would be the gig for them.

Opening with Wasted Life and finishing with Alternative Ulster, with the addition of some recent work – most notably Liars Club based on Tony Blair and George Bush. All the classics were there.

Silver Lining, as singer Jake Burns admitted, has not been played live in a while, Bits of Kids, Barbed Wire Love and Doesn’t Make It Alright – which, I discovered, was written by The Specials but SLF stole it from them before they had a chance to release it – Guitar and Drum was dedicated to lovers of real music who prevented Simon Cowell’s manufactured pop stars from reaching number one at Christmas, and Nobody’s Hero was announced as “this is not a Pop Idol song”.

There was plenty of action in front of the stage, especially when the opening guitar of Suspect Device kicked in. A great night, a real guitar and drum band at its best – and not just nostalgia either.

My son enjoyed it too!

Pete Gorst