U.K. Subs celebrated 40 years on the punk scene
The legendary British band
U.K. Subs celebrated 40 years on the punk scene on October 21
st in the
theatre Pod Čarou in Písek. The celebration was with the support of
Capricorn and
Konspirationen; their Swedish colleagues. This successful evening was closed with a Czech band called
Pirates of the Pubs.
The evening had begun with a talented one–man show musician. His perfect guitar riffs with nice electronic samples attracted visitors of the party.
The theatre Pod Čarou slowly started to fill up with people. Many individuals from other cities arrived to listen a good music, and, before the first interpreter finished his performance, the terrace and bar were completely full.
There was no time for any technical issues since five bands were performing that night. Hosts of the concert handled everything perfectly without any problems, and thanks to them the evening was smooth and enjoyable. After a small break, first tones of the second band – the Swedish band called the
Konspirationen, were heard.
The gentlemen brought high-quality punk with their performance. Lyrics in English satisfied many visitors, as well as the speech of the band’s front-man. Their songs had energy and drive. If I would have listened to their songs more often and known them better, I would have started dancing in the front immediately. Unfortunately, they played for a short amount of time, but that’s completely understandable since they had another three bands waiting to perform after them.
The audience received a huge gust of energy thanks to the next band – the
Capricorn. The gentlemen could not stand in one place, they used the whole stage while performing. Guitar solos couldn’t be missed - well it was some good rock.
“High energy electrophonic rock from the west coast of Sweden!” – that’s
Capricorn. Consider having a look at our gallery to see how the Capricorn boys enjoyed their performance and try to experience the atmosphere of that evening. Pictures from this concert are worth it, and maybe you will find yourself in some of them :)
By now, the audience was impatiently waiting for the highlight of the evening – the celebrating band
U.K. Subs. If you’d had thought the band would have been hiding backstage rather than going out and performing, you would be wrong. Members of the band, including front-man,
Charlie Harper, were interacting with the visitors since the theatre had opened for the public. They took pictures with the fans, gave interviews and enjoyed drinking our beer.
U.K. Subs are celebrating their 40
th birthday this year, so let’s take a peek at their history.
It is the year 1977, British punk is in its beginnings. The world is shocked by Sex Pistols and the band Eater is debuting in London. The band called The Clash just started performing in Roxy club in a London district Covent Garden.
Charlie Harper, the front-man of today’s band U.K. Subs, is currently in a group called The Marauders. Inspired by British punk band Damned, he starts to form his own band
U.K. Subs, called UK Subversives at that time.
Later they’re shortening the name to
The Subs and finally changing it to the
U.K. Subs. In October 1977, a guitarist,
Nicky Garratt, joined
Charlie Harper and thanks to the new
Harper–Garratt duo, the most successful songs were born. However, the structure of the band is changing over time, therefore, U.K. Subs arrived to the Czech Republic in this structure:
Charlie Harper – singer,
Steve Straughan – guitar,
Alvin Gibbs – bass guitar, and
Jamie Oliver – drums.
Their first album was published in 1979 with the name
Another Kind of Blues. The last album which was published in 2016 is called
Ziezo. They’re the only ones in the whole world to name their albums all the way from an A and finish with Z.
U.K. Subs proved that the legends are never getting old, but are growing every year. The magic performed by
Alvin Gibbs is incredible, they have energy which can be transformed to the audience. They had only two concerts within the Czech Republic, and then continued to Teplice for the second and last concert here. They also performed at
Mighty Sounds in 2013, and they were the only headliners at festival
Pod Parou in 2008.
And us below the stage? We danced, tried to get our idols on the stage, and then were jumping up and down. The feeling of standing next to the legends was incredible. The singer,
Charlie Harper, and bass guitar player,
Alvin Gibbs, showed us their satisfaction with our beer and we showed them our satisfaction with their concert.
The night was closed by a group from České Budějovice, called the
Pirates of the Pubs, with their punk-rock Irish folk. The band with
Skippy,
knuP,
Rimmsie,
Matěj,
Jirka, and
Havli, has a beautiful front-man
Baruška. This structure is proof of a great experience full of rhythm inspired by Irish songs. Thanks to a great atmosphere, the evening continued with a lot of dancing, singing, pirates, and rum. Pirates of the Pubs will never disappoint us and I must say that they were a great choice for this evening.
The Pirates just started their Fall tour with a band called
Kohout plaší smrt, the tour is called
Cocks in the Pubs. However, you still have a chance to see them:
24. 11. - Tábor – Bardo
25. 11. - Rokycany - U Pardála
8. 12. - Štětí - Beer Club
9. 12. - Poděbrady - BOSS BAR
15. 12. - Teplice - Restaurace Rajče
Or come this Friday to Music bar Velbloud in České Budějovice and dive in!
The Pirates are having a charity concert for
Cibela z.s, which helps abandoned dogs and cats. More information can be found
here.
The gallery is full of pictures and is worth a peek, as well as a video which was filmed by
Václav Hozlbauer.
What else is on the list for November?
The Theatre Pod Čarou is hosting a great production full of music. On Friday, November 3, listeners of emotional music will find their home here. A few performances can be seen within an event called “
Hrajeme pro Slona”, for example, with
Vašek Strach,
Primátor Dittrich, or
The River Of The Lost Souls. On Saturday, November 11, there will be a performance of the
Circus Brothers. A metal concert of a legendary band called
TAM will take place on November 17 and on Saturday, November 18, you can expect
UDG,
O5 and Radeček band with the support of singer
Pokáč. Finally, November 25, will belong to Pogo Tour 2017, this time with traditional duo
E!E and
SPS, and they will have bands called
Plexis and
Zputnik as their guests.
The program can be seen
here.