ninehertz

FUCK. ME. It's not even the end of march and Black Eye Riot have already laid a firm, bloody knuckled grip on the title belt for 'Best Gig Of 2005 You Never Saw'!

As is so often the way with these boys, it appeared to be going oh so horribly wrong from the off. Within the space of the first screamed lyric, Willis had broken one of the mics. Paul (Monkey Cafe owner) was up on stage about nine times within the first three songs trying to get both mics working before finally giving up. Undetered, Dexter and Willis continued for the entire duration of the set sharing the one remaining mic between them AND the five or so guys (and one girl) foolhardy enough to get themselves entangled down the front in the carnage that is the two of them live, doing what they do best: going fucking MENTAL.

You know, the thing I love most about this band is that, when you see Black Eye Riot live, you encounter something so very rare in these situations: FUN. Whether it's the sheer ferocity (and precision, considering how slaughtered most of them were) with which the band throw themselves into the songs, the shenanigans of Dave and Willis' live show or, my personal favourite, Willis' inpromptue between song stand up routines (sorry Ives, but you're an ameteur, he must have cracked a good 35 to 40 'your mum' (and a good coupla 'your dad') gags throughout the duration of the set leaving the small but dedicated crowd in stitches from start to finish). The room was wall to wall jam packed with the biggest fucking grins you've ever seen.

As the evening reached it's crushing, beautifully monolyrical crescendo ('The Cunt') there wasn't a person there who could possibly bring themselves not to cheer their arses off. Straight edge? FUCK YOU! Give me Oi!-Grind-Punk anyday of the week and, yes, twice every fucking Sunday! This is my church. Bend your knee and bow your head motherfucker!

Black Eye Riot now fill two slots in my 'Top Five Gigs I've Ever Seen' list. Now I'm gonna raise what's left of my last beer of the night to six lads born under a Swansea star for a wonderful night. Cheers boys, lovely to see you back in Monkey where it really works and we're not surrounded by kids who just don't get it.

Now on to Taint on Friday...