I’ve found the way I choose which gigs to go to has really changed during the time I’ve been living in Hastings. When I lived in London, my approach was very must based on keeping an eye on what all my favourite bands were up to, checking out their UK tour schedules and working out which was the best venue to get to.
My approach has now changed completely. I tend to look at what’s coming up in the two main venues closest to me (Hasting White Rock Theatre and Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion) as well as a selection of nearby smaller venues and choose accordingly. Because we are so well catered for in terms of live music on this small section of the East Sussex coast, it means I rarely travel further than a three-mile radius to get to gigs these days. However, it’s also meant I’ve tended to see a broader selection of artists, bands for whom I might be completely unfamiliar with but just fancy seeing or bands where I own just a single best-of compilation rather than their entire back catalogue. The Blockheads very much fit into that latter category. Although I ‘d seen and enjoyed them before, back when I first moved down here in 2016, I’ve still not progressed beyond that one compilation CD but I was hugely impressed with what I saw last time and keen to see them again.
There have been some changes since then, however. Derek ‘The Draw’ Hussey, the Blockheads’ frontman following the death of Ian Dury back in 2000, sadly passed away himself in 2022 and has been replaced by Mike Bennett. Veteran bass-player Norman Watt-Roy also stepped away in 2022 and Nathan King (brother of Level 42’s Mark) now does the honours. The first I knew about, the second came as something of a surprise. However, Chaz Jankel (keyboards, guitar and co-songwriter) is very much still part of the band, as is John Turnbull (guitar) and Mick Gallagher (keyboards) from the Dury-led glory years.
As Turnbull told the audience at one point the band’s main job, nay only job these days, is keeping these songs alive. And a great job they do, too. New frontman, Mike Bennett, adopts a somewhat more conventional interpretation of Dury’s songs (if anything Dury-related can ever be termed conventional) than the eccentric, larger-than-life persona of his predecessor, Derek the Draw, but his approach works well and he has an engaging stage presence. Musically, the band are as strong as ever. While I missed the charismatic presence of Norman Watt-Ray, his replacement ably delivers those funky bass licks and Chaz Jankel, John Turnbull and Mick Gallagher are clearly in their element. You can see how much joy it’s giving them still performing these songs.
As for the songs, those classics come thick and fast: ‘What a Waste’, ‘There Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards’, ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’, ‘I Want to Be Straight’, ‘Billericay Dickie’, ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’, ‘Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3’ and, of course, ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’. There’s a few I’m less familiar with and Turnbull even tells us they’ve been in the studio recording a couple of new tracks in time for Christmas. They encore with a riotous ‘Blockheads’ and a poignant ‘Lullaby for Franci/es’ with each member of the band exiting the stage one by one on the final number. A stand-out performance that celebrates the Blockheads’ back-catalogue in style and does Dury’s legacy proud.
https://www.theblockheads.com/
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