Grinding post hardcore and a splice of metalcore was served up with gruelling intensity by a searing quintet who goes under the guise of The Lucky Nine. They doused their set with the spirit of Fugazi and to a lesser extent Fu Manchu to pierce the air with an abrasive sound. The grizzly voiced Colin Doran threw himself into highlight offering; ‘Hibernate’ and made sure the crowd woke up from their weekend wind-down, as a punchy mosh circle signalled the approval of gatherers down the front. The strident and thrashing drum beats of Richie Mills helped to maintain a frenetic tempo to the set that saw the opening act produce a pleasing introduction to proceedings.

Oriental grinding punk with a booming bass element was delivered by three exuberant and eccentric rockers. Aki, the gregarious front man stoked the crowd up, as though they were a mere spark, with numbers like the bitingly kamikaze ‘Suicide Rock N Roll’ that soared out from a 70’s rock and free spirited musical base to liven things up. Ending with a blasting cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ brought out the rock spirit in everyone, including drummer Gian, who stood firmly on his drum stool with nothing but a roll of toilet paper covering his modesty. He played the toilet roll like it was a guitar and it seemed as though he was getting a good sound out of it too! Suffice to say that Electric Eel Shock made a lasting impression tonight.

The puerile posse of Bloodhound Gang really let lose early on, with Jimmy Pop Ali seemingly buoyed up by getting into the old routine again, after releasing their first album in some five years; ‘Hefty Fine’. Their high jinx was on show early on in the tripped out marijuana covering; ‘Along Comes Mary’ that was a popular early choice being famous for its use in the ‘Half Baked’ movie. Jimmy was in a mischievous mood all evening being seemingly pleased when a vibrator was thrown onto the stage, he took the opportunity to experiment, as a shocked and amused audience looked on. The bodacious singer warmed himself to the Manchester crowd by introducing a new song; ‘No Hard Feelings + Hefty Fine’ as being about “a fat chick I met from Liverpool”.

A brief and buoyant cover of ‘Take My Out’ by Franz Ferdinand helped to get people in the mood with a sing along. The snappy and musically crushing ‘Jackass’ showed a determination to parade as many new numbers as possible with honour and pride. The band were on the edge of despair when an invitation to the crowd to choose a song and give some dynamic to the set, only resulted in incoherent cries like those of 6 year olds at story time. However, the tenacious Jimmy implored them to; “get your shit together” and was greeted with fervent cries for ‘The Ballad Of Chasey Lain’. Michael Jackson jokes and a guest appearance from Electric Eel Shock (yes, it did include the toilet roll wearing drummer), showed that this Pennsylvania outfit have not changed one bit. An encore inclusive of ‘Fire Water Burn’ from the Fahrenheit 9/11 sound track found favour, as the insurrection igniting lyrics were poured out with impunity by the newly self-named Jimmy Bin Laden;

“The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire,
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire,
We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn,
Burn motherfucker burn.”

Tonight, was a reminder that this quintet is back and they are as bad as ever!

David Adair