The Stranglers are an English rock band who came to prominence during the late 1970’s British Punk scene. Currently touring the UK and Europe on their final “Full UK Tour”¹, they recently released the album Dark Matters which reached No. 4 in the UK Charts.

The Stranglers formed in Guildford in 1974 which means they’ve been in existence for 48 years and not 45. However, it’s 45 years since I first saw them in London in 1977, hence the title.

I went to see The Stranglers at the Cliffs Pavilion in Westcliff-on-sea (Southend) recently (15th Feb 2022) but previously I’d seen them at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London on 5th November 1977.

Something Better Change

Has much changed in the intervening years? Well yes…and no. For a start, I wasn’t crushed against the stage in the mosh pit this time (thankfully) but being in the seats in the balcony has its drawbacks too. More than you may imagine.

Walk On By

I first discovered The Stranglers in 1977, when I heard the single Peaches on the radio one evening and from the opening few bars I was hooked. I bought the album Rattus Norvegicus IV, No More Heroes, Black & White, then The Raven. And then I stopped. I didn’t buy The Gospel According To The Meninblack because, well, I was 21 by then. Far too old for punk music.

The next Stranglers studio album I bought was Dark Matters, which was released in 2021 and it is an incredibly good album.²

The Stranglers were never your average punk band. They didn’t follow the pattern as determined by the likes of The Pistols and The Clash and, whilst alienating themselves from the British music press, they conversely brought themselves many admirers. Like me for example. I didn’t care whether they were truly ‘punk’ or not. I liked the music. But they weren’t your average musicians either.

Always The Sun

Hugh Cornwell the singer/guitarist was a Biochemist

Jean-Jacques Burnel the bass player/singer was French/English, a black-belt in martial arts, and a classically trained guitarist

Dave Greenfield the keyboardist was a very-high functioning autistic ‘genius’

Jet Black the drummer owned an off-licence and a fleet of ice-cream vans

In the interim though, since I saw them in ’77 the keyboard player Dave Greenfield, had died. During the pandemic he was admitted into hospital for a heart operation, and then contracted Covid.

Before that Jet Black, the drummer retired from the band in 2018 because he was pushing 80.

And in 1990, Hugh Cornwell, the guitarist, left the band due to the usual musical differences.

No Mercy

So what has changed in the 45 years since the Roundhouse? Well the Roundhouse was a dirty, unpleasant place that held live music and if you want to know what that gig was like, listen to the live album X-Cert. Most of it is comprised of the gig I attended. As I recall an American band were first on. They were called The Destroyers, or something like that. Or did they have a song called Search & Destroy?³

Death & Night & Blood (Yukio)

However, the English punk audience didn’t take to them very well and a lot of spitting ensued. Spitting, I should state, isn’t big or clever especially in a post-pandemic world, but in the UK in 1977, it was either a compliment for a band to be spat at, or as in this case it clearly meant the audience were not impressed.

Down In The Sewer

The singer, Handsome Dick Manitoba (he really was asking for it) then performed the cardinal sin, which is to start lecturing an audience that doesn’t respect you. He said, for the right reasons albeit foolishly, that if the audience didn’t stop spitting, the band wouldn’t continue. Cue a volley of phlegm arcing through the stage lights like arrows from an army of medieval bowmen.

Black & White

After they cleared off, the lights went down again but The Stranglers didn’t appear. First we were treated to a short, silent black and white Mickey Mouse cartoon accompanied by some jaunty music. Then The Stranglers did appear. On the X-Cert album, Hugh Cornwell makes a reference to the film. “You get a free film here,” he says to a delighted audience. “You don’t even get that at the Hammersmith Odeon!”

Hugh, who stood directly in front of me, spent time between songs, wiping himself and his Telecaster down with a towel, Dave Greenfield’s keyboards stopped working (a feature of pretty much every gig), JJ Burnel snarled and Jet Black kept perfect time.

The Gospel According To The Meninblack

In 2022 the audience is a little older. There are (as my friend Steve Christy noted) a lot of old, bald men wearing black. And this is very much the case. What he may not have appreciated is these same old, bald men have not only a limitless thirst for cheap beer but also incredibly poor bladder control.

And so the new “Gospel According To The (Old & Bald) Meninblack” is triangular in its formation, with each of the three points representing one absolute necessity of their being, namely: Stranglers, Bar, Toilet. Stranglers, Bar, Toilet, Stranglers, Bar, Toilet. And this continues ad infinitum until the venue closes.

So, when you sit in the balcony at the Cliffs Pavilion as Vikki and I did the other night, you get to spend half the gig standing up and sitting down as the same group of people go back and forth to the bar, then back and forth to the toilets about 15 minutes later. This continued right up until the very last song of the night. It was actually worse than being at Spurs.

Princess Of The Streets

Then as if to add insult to injury, the two seats in front of us were taken by two women, about my age, who not only arrived late but had clearly decided not to spend the evening going to and from the bar, so they had got tanked up before they came in. What we were treated to was choruses of “woo-woo” every 30 seconds, followed by hands in the air like 60’s go-go girls, then the pointing at the band in time to the beat.

Bring On The Nubiles

Then the one in front of me, who we’ll call Brandy (for obvious reasons) started trying to sing the songs, at full volume and out of tune before she suddenly stood up, swayed a little whilst she spoke to her friend (the gig was going on behind her although I now couldn’t see anything), then she stepped out onto the stairs beside us, leaned against the wall, and just when we all thought she was going to throw up, she started dancing. At least she had the decency to move out of the way to boogie so I was thankful for that.

Strange Little Girl

Then a couple of songs later she sat down again. Then she started “woo-wooing”, then she started singing Strange Little Girl (the band were playing Skin Deep), then the pointing started again, then she stood up and slowly walked/stumbled down the stairs towards the exit.

5 Minutes (x6)

She didn’t come back for half an hour. Her friend didn’t bother going to find her. I assume she’d seen it all before and was well versed in the whole routine. When she did return, she had another drink in her hand and she flopped into her seat before bouncing back up again, like a jack-in-the-box, to start gyrating on the stairwell once more.

Indian Love Call

A bit later, singer/guitarist Baz Warne started chatting to the audience and Brandy took this as her cue to profess her undying love for him. Again at full volume she started shouting, “I LOVE YOU!” only the “you” part was pronounced “You-Woo-Woo-Woo”. She had her lips pursed with her bottom lip jutting out to really get that final “woo” out.

In between her dancing, shouting, pointing, and people going to and from the bar/toilet, a gig was going on in the background. What I saw of it was quite good.

And If You Should See Dave

Towards the end of the gig, The Stranglers played a couple of acoustic numbers, one of which is called And If You Should See Dave – a lament to the recently departed Dave Greenfield. One of the lyrics is “And if you should see Dave say hello, this is where your solo would go,” at which point the lights dim and a spotlight shines on the empty keyboard. That was more emotional than I thought it would be.

So, on reflection, both gigs were wonderful for completely different reasons. They had their positive traits and their negative ones too.

Would I see The Stranglers again? Absolutely. I’d just want front row tickets next time.

Some tickets for the tour are still available should you be interested. See link below.

The Stranglers (Official Site)

Thank you for your time.

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1. I think this means mini-tours and festivals are still an option
2. I have live and compilation albums
3. It was The Dictators and they did have a song called Search & Destroy.