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Clearly Boston was ready for the ‘Another…Bites’ tour that featured the playing of the first two BUZZCOCKS records in their entirety, as an extremely packed house on a Monday greeted the band very vociferously as they took the stage. Celebrating the very origins of punk rock, thirty-plus trips around the sun later, can leave a band vulnerable to pessimistic views, especially when songs like “Nostalgia” and “Sixteen Again” are played. But the Buzzcocks are not a band mired in the past, as their uniformly solid body of work in the post-early ’90s reformation point to; this tour was put together as a promotional effort that coincided with the recent reissue program of their first three records, each with bonus discs containing live material, demo versions, Peel sessions and the like. Plus, it gave one a chance to hear rarely (if ever) played tracks like the stirring instrumental of “Walking Distance” or the biting “Fiction Romance.”
The band has changed rhythm sections since their heyday, and replacing the talents of JOHN MAHER and STEVE GARVEY is not a task taken lightly – they are among the most talented backline to ever face an audience gob storm. The new guys (drummer DANNY FARRANT and bass player CHRIS REMINGTON) can more than hold their own, however, especially Farrant, who nailed the complex drum figure in “Moving Away From The Pulsebeat” and generally kept the foot on the throttle the entire evening.
The night started with the intro of “Boredom” that’s grafted to “Fast Cars,” and away we were, out of the gate leaving black streaks and acrid fumes of burning rubber. The songwriting tandem of PETE SHELLEY and STEVE DIGGLE is a prodigious one, and they’ve written such great songs that it’s easy to take them for granted. I like to skirt the edge of preposterousness by claiming that they are more important to me than THE BEATLES, and I am not lodging my tongue deep into my cheek. “Love Battery” just steamrolls over anything in its way, leaving a trail of twisted wreckage in its wake. “I Don’t Mind” and “Autonomy” show the breadth of their skills, not only perfectly written songs that are stickier than a candied apple, they also display barbs and energy. Basically, what great rock songs should be.
The Diggle side of the crowd was going nuts for most of the evening, and he windmilled his way straight into their hearts, flashing sly smiles and arched eyebrows throughout the evening. He really took things to another level for his classic “Harmony In My Head,” and turned it into a raging anthem. Somewhere, the ghost of JOE STRUMMER was broadly beaming.
The well-deserved encore featured some of the finest songs ever pressed to seven inches of black vinyl; “Orgasm Addict,” “Love You More,” “Promises” – insane, intense, involved. The seething crowd ate it up, and after the last strains of music died Diggle gleefully laid waste to an innocent mic stand, the band took deep bows and high-fived people at the edge of the stage.
