Ugly Kid Joe

We saw that Ugly Kid Joe were playing Falmouth and just had to check it out. These guys had been off my radar since the mid-nineties, they had a few hits then disappeared and I was honestly un-sure how much of a pull they would have in terms of audience numbers.

We walked into the quiet bar in Princess Pavilion, got a damn good pint of Proper Job (always a good start to the evening) and headed in to check out the support who had just started, it was rammed! We had to squeeze in to get a place, very pleasantly surprised in terms of the crowd size, and the quality of the support band.

Macclesfield's duo, The Virginmarys blasted out a heavy set full of energy and power. The drummer, Danny Dolan, wore a T-Shirt saying "Hit Em Hard", and goddammit he did, and the shocking blue-haired singer/guitarist Ally Dickaty hammered his guitar and spat out his lyrics, occasionally with a touch of the Alex Turners about his delivery. An awesome support, these guys held the whole crowd in this sauna of a room, when lesser bands would have seen people slink off for a cool down outside before the main act. Quality.

We're kind of waiting for the five young guys with long hair from the Everything About You video playing on a California beach to walk on stage, but I guess they got older like the rest of us did in the 30 or so years that have passed. They come on and launch into VIP, frontman Whitfield Crane, complete with Lemmy T-Shirt, makes the classic late entrance for full effect. Followed up with Neighbor, these first couple of songs have a lot of this audience moving, and sweating early on.

It only takes a few tracks to make it clear that these guys can seriously play! The musicianship is effortless, and the showmanship from Crane is something else. This fella could give Axl Rose a run for his money in a battle of egos, and he could certainly sing him off-stage. Crane takes the crowd by the balls and isn't afraid of a cliche. "Everybody get your hands in the air, EVERYBODY" He leads the audience in arm waving, clapping, jumping, splits us into sections to sing back at him and he gets the response he wants. At one point an Audience member starts the Cornish Oggy Chant "Oggy Oggy Oggy" "Oi Oi Oi", Crane has never heard this before and is so fascinated that him and the band make an impromptu song out of it twice this evening. This gig is pure entertainment.

There were plenty of standout numbers, lots that I'd forgotten I knew like the comparatively laid-back Busy Bee that I found myself singing along to, and the catchy as hell Milkman's Son. The biggest camera phone moment was Cats in The Cradle and biggest surprise was an epic cover of Ace Of Spades. Crane's voice is nothing like Lemmy's and nobody can pull off anything close, but they kicked the ass out of it even though Crane still couldn't resist orchestrating the crowd throughout.

There could only be one set closer, Everything About You, the song they are intrinsically linked with, was always a bit of a joke song with it's funny /cynical lyrics, but in a weird way it's stood the test of time, we all sing every word back at the band and Crane makes one fan very happy by grabbing their phone and filming half of the song from the stage.

This gig has been filled with humour, good times, a shitload of heavy riffs and a band who don't take themselves too seriously, but know how to engage their crowd. Everyone left Cornwall's best indoor venue with smiles on their faces.

Thanks to @brianrobinsonmusic @brianrobinsonphoto for the pic.