Here comes a night of bold statements – as promised by support band The Arrows of Love’s repertoire inclusion of 'In the Year 2525'. Yet if the song’s original prophets Zager & Evans had penned a more humble prediction of “In the year two-thousand and ten / we’ll get to rock with 80s Matchbox again,” then the last five years would have seen most people dismiss the pair as charlatans.
Prior to May, the survival chances of The 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster as a band resided in big-name support slots and fans’ lingering goodwill towards their 2002 debut album Horse of the Dog. But intervening years had seen once-astounding creativity gradually replaced by sounds of self-implosion.
Yet you wouldn’t guess any of this from tonight’s show. The arrival of Blood & Fire this year was less a spark than a blast of rejuvenation and immediacy – and the power it has given TEMBLD is here undeniable. OK, the personnel has changed slightly since our first crush, but you know at once you’re looking at fighters – and that’s putting it politely. Long before storming the stage, a brief exchange of pleasantries between bass player Sym Gharial and a security guard finds the latter wearing a pint on his head. It’s taken as standard.
The set roars into action with 'Monsieur Cutts' and 'Mission from God', both magnificent ambassadors for the latest album. The crowd – who politely and quietly applauded second-support Robots in Disguise – now go absolutely bananas, with bodies in carnage already flying this way and that above each other’s heads. It’s no wonder either, as they behold a vision of chaos mastery. Guy McKnight’s painted face resembles a daunting African mask, while new rhythm guitarist Dominic Knight is trying to lick a blue beard from his own face.
It is customary in this band to throw and wheel your guitar around like you’re auditioning the final scene of Texas Chainsaw Massacre – beautifully illustrated later on when a roadie tries to rewire Knight’s guitar just as he’s going full spaz-out. For all that compelling effort, however, it is always Gharial’s thumping bass that drives everything on. He is the engine of the band, the bludgeon behind its crazy. McKnight perches on a monitor and leans into the crowd, surveying his domain. By song three, 'I Rejection', he is right in amongst it – having received hollers of approval just for letting down his hair.
This song and 'Temple Music' argue that TEMBLD still had it on ill-received second album The Royal Society. But it is tonight’s return to B&F material with a change of pace in 'So Long Goodnight' that really switches up the dial. Lead guitarist Tristan McLenahan has by now got the gist that he really needs to kick as many things as possible – over goes the monitor soon enough and then a spinning roundhouse on the mic stand sorts that out too. The crowd is upping its assault as well, with one frantic-faced chap trying not to be dragged from the stage while a tiger man suddenly hazards a running leap head-first into the thrall. Taking photos has become a dangerous occupation.
We are spoilt when we finally get the real reward: a complete run-through of Horse...’s full arsenal. It culminates with 'Team Meat', 'Presidential Wave', McLenahan spraying water on the crowd and a security guard getting whacked by Gharial’s flying bass. Job dutifully done, he slumps amid the insistent chant of, “WE WANT MORE! WE WANT MORE!”
Words: Alderson