Live Review: XSLF - The Continental, Preston
5th December 2021
Support: The Sentence, Away From The Numbers
Words: Dan Barnes
One shouldn’t really complain but the New Continental hosting legendary punk acts on a Sunday evening is playing havoc with bath night. Last week it was indomitable Charlie Harper and the U.K. Subs, this week it’s ex-Stiff Little Finger, Henry Cluney and XSLF.
Probably not much of a surprise to learn opening act, Away from the Numbers are so called due to their embracing off all things Mod. Covers of tracks by The Jam – of course – and the Small Faces among others sees this Lancaster three-piece deliver an entertaining beginning to the evening’s proceedings and as good a reason to skip Songs of Praise as you can get.
Upping the ante is The Sentence, an unashamed street punk outfit who appear to have brought their very own fan club. And you can see why – for the band serve up a set of high quality in-your-face Oi! anthems that gets to crowd moving, with tales of the trials and tribulations of modern society. Coppers, Rise n’ Shine and Riot all infuse the body with an overwhelming desire to move and before the set was over, I’d clicked to follow on Facebook and bought the Broken World album through Bandcamp. Hopefully they might be playing a seaside resort during the summer, as I’m willing to bet, they’d be up for giving Sparrer and the Rejects a right run for their money.
Formed originally around the guitar of Henry Cluney and the drums of Jim Reilly, who were half of Stiff Little Fingers until 1981, when Reilly left the band after the Go For It album. Sadly, due to health reasons, Jim is no longer able to play with XSLF, leaving Cluney as the sole survivor from those early days.
No matter what passed between messers Burns and Cluney to warrant Henry’s departure in 1993, the truth is the pair combined to make some of the greatest punk of the movement. Even though the world has moved on since the 1979 release of debut album Inflammable Material and its Troubles-centric subject matter, tracks like Suspect Device – which Henry opens with tonight – Wasted Life and the linguistic masterpiece that is Barbed Wire Love prove they still have the ability to move the masses.
I’m so used to hearing Alternative Ulster at the end of the show that I was putting my hoodie on when I realised we were mere moments into the set. Playing as a trio give those songs a different feel as the rhythm section of established bassist Ave Tsarion and on-loan from The Defects drummer Glenn Kingsmore lay down a foundation for Henry’s telecaster to sing sweet music.
There’s a connection within the band that feels genuine, so when Henry tells tales of performing on Top of the Pops he mock apologies that the rest of the band weren’t there for it. It’s not just sent in one direction as Ave fires back a quip about the guitarist’s particularly gaudy shirt this evening. “£9 off ebay.” returns Henry, in a Belfast accent that can make narrating a Haynes manual a thoroughly engrossing and hilarious listen.
Seven of Nobody’s Hero’s ten tracks get aired along with Punk Is Dead? from the 2020 XSLF album, Northstar, and a feisty version of White Christmas as an acknowledgment of the approaching season of good will.
Whether it’s with Jake, Ali and the band or with Henry and XSLF, a night in the company of Stiff Little Fingers songs is never long enough, so as Tin Soldiers ends and the final gig of 2021 comes to a close – unless I can get myself over to the Boulevard in Wigan on Friday for the Bar Stool Preachers, that is – I’m left to consider whether a) my voice will return for my 10:30 presentation tomorrow morning and b) I hope that big guy with the Mohawk wasn’t too annoyed with me singing down his ear all set!
I didn’t get chinned so either he wasn’t or he was overcome with seasonal felicitations. God bless us, every one!
