Here’s another gig where it’s likely that the audience were intimately familiar with most of the songs played.
Although frontman Ian Dury died in the year 2000, his Blockheads have continued to keep the old music alive with a virtually complete line-up from their original late-1970s heyday. Even though singer, narrator, poet and raconteur Derek ‘The Draw’ Hussey now takes on the heavy Dury responsibility, most of the repertoire is still dominated by the old classic material rather than any more recent compositions. Both friend and minder of Dury, back in the day, Hussey adopts a jokily hectoring Cockney stance, but appears to be influenced almost as much by Viv Stanshall, the extremely eccentric voice of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
Still in The Blockheads are Chaz Jankel (guitar/keyboards), John Turnbull (guitar), Mickey Gallagher (keyboards) and Norman Watt-Roy (bass). Gilad Atzmon takes the saxophonic position, revealing a strong streak of funky soulfulness from this erstwhile bandleader on the mainline jazz scene.
The set-list was emphatically in the greatest hits league, opening with “Sex & Drugs & Rock’n’Roll”, then rapidly trouncing through “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”, “What A Waste”, “Wake Up And Make Love With Me”, “Sweet Gene Vincent”, and “Clever Trevor”, with “Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3” sounding particularly robust. That’s some impressive catalogue!
Jankel and Turnbull traded guitar solos, or went for some more extended highlight spots, impressive when jousting and also when showcased alone. Atzmon came on like a warty Michael Brecker, dirtying up the rhythm’n’blues licks, turning jazz funk a sickly shade of green. Hussey was sometimes a touch overbearing in his audience exhortations, but generally possessed a wily wit, flecked with naughty innuendo. Watt-Roy never ceased in his expressive funk contortions, constantly stretching his next bassline from an endless length of tight rubber. This might have been a nostalgia show, but these songs still retain their cheeky vigour over three decades down the line.