Section 25 - Beat Club, Blackpool (21/6/08)

 

It was perhaps appropriate that Martin Moscrop played The Fall's Theme from Sparta FC prior to Section XXV's opening number. Larry ambles on after a minute or so, plays with the mic cord and faces the side wall rather than the audience. While Cassidy is no match for MES's poetic wordsmithology, the obtuse vocal style against a solid rhythm section draws a pleasing comparison.

 

Part Primitiv, the bands latest studio album concentrates the focus of a new found energy and direction that will hopefully see them following the Fall as pioneering survivors rather than in the words of MES 'Look back bores'. Witness The Sex Pistols at IOW for self parody.

 

Don't get me wrong, for a 30th anniversary a little nostalgia is on the cards and Up To You, Wretch and After Image were breathed new life by the shear intensity of the performance. The Sound system was so loud you could feel your chest vibrating with every thud of Vin's bass drum.

 

The set was short and not at all indulgent. More of a celebration of things to come than a retrospective. Section XXV are finally coming out of the shadows for an overdue encounter with the limelight. The old trenchcoaters stood at the back knew what they wanted to see and for once got more. To encore with Shadowplay rather than No Love Lost was the only blemish on an otherwise thouroghly enjoyable set.

 

4/5