08 March 2014 (gig)
22 March 2014
The Ramonas – UK’s all grrrl tribute band to the mighty Ramones – showed Edinburgh’s Citrus Club how to let rip and provided punters with a whale of a time. Gabba gabba hey!
With its dark and barely there decor, the venue is somewhat of a bleak affair. Indeed, to say that the venue’s interior decor represents minimalism is an understatement… it feels more like a bunker in which likeminded folk gather to listen to kick ass bands. The perfect setting then for The Ramonas, seeing how the club evokes the spirit of CBGB’s! By the time the band took to the stage the room was already ram packed!
For the uninitiated amongst you readers, the girls are: Cloey Ramona (vocals), Rohnny Ramona (guitar), Pee Pee Ramona (bass), and Margy Ramona (drums).
The audience turned out to be a mix of die-hard punk fans, die-harder Ramones fans, and never-die-out beer gulpers.
Not bothering with any boring “Hello out there”, the girls broke straight into ear-pounding beats and blasted through every well-known Ramones hit, all the while belting out the lyrics with nanosecond speed! From ‘Teenage Lobotomy’ to ‘Psycho Therapy’, from ‘Beat On The Brat’ to ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio’, from ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ to ‘Rockaway Beach’, from ‘Loudmouth’ to ‘I Don’t Care’, from ‘Cretin Hop’ to ‘Pinhead’… the favourites just kept on coming and coming…
The punters could barely keep up, while Cloey most definitely couldn’t keep still. With her Joey Ramone shades, fishnet stockings, hot pants and sneakers, she was the epitome of punk anti-chic and the tough stance look that comes with it. Jumping up and down as if playing skipping rope, she seemed determined to synchronize her jumps with Margy’s ferocious drumbeats. To her left stood Rohnny, strumming her guitar for all that’s worth, while to her right Pee Pee, sporting a white Ramones t-shirt and tartan mini, followed suit with her bass string strokes.
By now the audience was well and truly at boiling point, and the stench of spilled beer began to mix with that of sweat. Female as well as male audience members pushed forward direction stage and began to pogo dance, without doubt some ended up bruised. Then again, what’s a few bruises when you having a blast celebrating the temporarily resurrection of 70’s punk spirit?!
It was just before the encore when Cloey finally addressed the audience with “Hi Edinburgh, it’s nice to see all you again” and then promptly held up a banner with Gabba Gabba Hey written on it. “Do you wanna dance?” she asked, before shouting “Hey ho, let’s go!” and kicking up a storm. For the final number, ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’, three female audience members (including yours truly, also wearing a Ramones t-shirt) got dragged onto stage and got invited to perform with the band. And so it came that for one song only, we ALL were a happy family!
