I’d heard THE SLITS had reformed in the summer of 2004 to play at the MORRISSEY-curated Meltdown festival in London. Since then, I’d been avidly anticipating a U.S. tour, and now we finally got one.
In their first visit to Philadelphia since the 1981 tour for their second album Return of the Giant Slits, The Slits opened their U.S. tour with a performance that has to rank among the most bizarre and interactive I’ve ever seen.
First off, let’s get a few facts straight. This isn’t REALLY The Slits in any of their great late ‘70s to early ‘80s incarnations. First drummer PALMOLIVE? Well she’s a born-again Christian now. Second drummer BUDGIE (also later of SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES and THE CREATURES)? Nowhere to be found. Guitarist VIV ALBERTINE? Also not here. You get the idea.
However, this lineup does feature original vocalist ARI UP and bassist TESSA POLLITT, along with Pollitt’s daughter as one of the guitar players. On their new EP Attack of the Killer Slits, MARCO PIRRONI (formerly of ADAM AND THE ANTS) and PAUL COOK (formerly the SEX PISTOLS drummer) make guest appearances, but neither of them is with The Slits on this tour.
They opened with their cover of the reggae classic “The Man Next Door,” and then played a fair amount of material from their amazing debut album Cut, including “FM,” “Shoplifting” (which was played twice; more on that later), and of course the classic “Typical Girls.” In addition, all three songs from the new EP were played (including the memorably titled “Slits Tradition” and “Number One Enemy”, a delicious blast of ‘77-era UK punk). Their interesting but much lesser second album The Return of the Giant Slits was only touched upon once, with a version of “Animal Space.”
What songs they played or didn’t play was only a small part of the story, however. The real story was the sheer presence and zany behavior of Ari Up. As a teenager in The Slits’ original incarnation, she was known for urinating on stage, and though she’s older and (presumably) wiser now, this show proved that she still hasn’t lost her wide-eyed wonder and is still a bit out-of-step with what’s considered ‘normal’ behavior. For instance, she let an audience member sing “Shoplifting” at her insistence, right after she’d just performed it!
She interacted with the audience frequently, even inviting a young woman on stage to talk to her at one point. At several points, she took pictures of the audience. She also made frequent references to Philadelphia, including a point about looking at “beautiful houses in the ghetto” during their last trip here back in the early ‘80s. She also made references to her anatomy during the performance, including a memorable reference to her ‘poon poon.’ I don’t know what planet Ari is on, but it’s a rather interesting one. As for the rest of the band, well given that it was the first date of the tour, they were a bit sloppy. That’s ok, though, as The Slits was always a gloriously sloppy band, and they didn’t screw up the songs or anything like that.
Openers THE APES played a curious hybrid of noise-rock and what sounded like late ‘80s BAD BRAINS songs. Their singer had a fantastic range, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Before them, GENGHIS TRON played what they called “techno grindcore.” Obviously this isn’t my thing at all, and if I told you they were loud, it would be the understatement of the year. I escaped the noise by going outside.
I did, however, really enjoy the first openers, Philly locals BAD NEWS BATS. They’re an all-girl band comprised of college students who play a glorious combination of early ‘90s Riot Grrl punk with a post-punk twist. They reminded me of BIKINI KILL, BRATMOBILE and ERASE ERRATA all in one. They were also the only band who sounded ANYTHING like the headliners. I’m not necessarily saying that bills should be full of similar-sounding bands, but in this case, it was a relief that one of the openers had something in common with the headliners because the other two openers just didn’t appeal to me at all.
