By Jim Rowland
Originally scheduled just as the country fell into lockdown back in 2020, the return of the Vive Le Rock Awards has been a long time coming, as has the return of the event’s star attraction, Lords Of The New Church. But as it turned out, it was well worth the wait…
As with previous events, the first half of the proceedings is centred around the dishing out of various awards, interspersed with live sets from the Vive Le Rocker’s house band, featuring members of Urban Voodoo Machine, Ruts DC and the Jim Jones All Stars, with a host of guest singers.
Highlights included a stonking set from Girlschool’s Kim & Jackie resurrecting the Motorhead/Girlschool ‘St. Valentine’s Day Massacre’ EP, Jim Jones giving it some on ‘I Put A spell On You’, Millie Manders rocking through ‘God Save the Queen’, Jenny Bellestar’s ‘Iko Iko’, Elizabeth Westwood’s ‘Sonic Boom Boy’ and the awards host Beki Bondage knocking out a quality rendition of Little Richard’s ‘Lucille’.
The awards part of the evening has always been a bit chaotic, and this year is no exception. Bob Vylan gets ‘New Blood’, Amyl & The Sniffers get live act, The Interrupters snag the prestigious best album, and star attraction Brian James gets ‘Pioneer’. For me the most poignant moments were Killing Joke’s Youth giving a most fitting tribute to one of the greatest and most underrated bass players we’ve ever seen in the shape of Norman Watt-Roy who gets a dearly deserved ‘Services To Music’, East End Oi! pioneers Cockney Rejects getting a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ as they enter the final throes of their touring days, and Bodysnatchers/Special AKA legend Rhoda Dakar’s emotional and heartfelt tribute to ‘Icon’ Terry Hall.
After a short break, the main live event kicks off with a short set from tonight’s lifetime achievers Cockney Rejects who blitz the stage with the an excellent ‘Paper Tiger’ from last year’s superb ‘Power Grab’ album, ‘Unforgiven’ and early Oi! classic ‘Bad Man’. The Rejects are a well-oiled machine these days, and although it’s a short, sweet three song set, it packs a seriously powerful punch.
Neville Staple and his band follow with a blistering set rattling through many of the Specials’ finest moments to an appreciative moonstomping audience. There isn’t a huge amount of time allocated to the set, but somehow Staple manages to cram in ‘Do The Dog’, ‘Nite Club’, ‘Monkey Man’, ‘A Message To You, Rudy’, ‘Gangsters’, ‘Concrete Jungle’, ‘Ghost Town and ‘Longshot Kick De Bucket’ in quick succession for a high energy set that has the audience singing and dancing along from start to finish.
Finally it’s time for the star attraction – a reformation, of sorts, of The Lords Of The New Church, and considering they were lined up for this event three years ago, it’s great that they can still honour that commitment.
So it’s a much anticipated appearance, and one that some here tonight have travelled a fair few miles to see. Joining original members Brian James and Dave Tregunna is versatile drummer Terry Chimes, probably still best known for his work on the first Clash album, but has a huge list of bands he’s played with over the years, one of which was Hanoi Rocks. And it is, of course, Hanoi Rocks frontman Michael Monroe who has the job of filling in for the much missed Stiv Bators on vocals. Bators was an inspiration to Monroe, and also a friend, so he is pretty much the ideal choice.
As you would expect from Michael Monroe, he takes this performance in his stride, oozing style and charisma. ‘New Church’, ‘Livin’ On Livin’ and ‘Russian Roulette’ all feature from the first album, with ‘Dance With Me’ and ‘Method To My Madness’ from the second and third all go down a storm. Rat Scabies enters the fray to take over from Chimes on the Damned’s ‘New Rose’, a pretty blistering version and a little unique piece of rock history unfolding before us before Chimes returns for the encore of Bo Diddley via the New York Dolls’ ‘Pills’ to wrap things up in fine style.
We may have waited three years for this, but is was most definitely worth the wait. A chaotic, cacophonous celebration of everything that is great about alternative music, and Vive Le Rock magazine, and an absolutely storming knees-up for everyone in attendance.
- Photos courtesy of Mark Taylor.
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