UK Subs
Live Atomic Cafe Monaco 30.07.02

LA RECENSIONE

„Live fast, die young,“ they said. Not Charlie Harper, though, who apparently as far back as 1977 had said that twenty years from then he would still be playing at the pub down the road. Now he is 58 years old (sic! – born in 1944) and continues to tour globally with his band, those Subversives later abbreviated to Subs but since in Ireland there was another band already called Subs, he simply added UK, stolen from “Anarchy in the UK” by the Sex Pistols which had just been released. Arriving after the Sex Pistols and mixed up among other punk bands, they never achieved the same success and have remained a “cult band” for about 25 years now. In the line-up, from the old members but not the founders, is Alan Campbell on guitar. Plus the old Charlie, who with his white hair, overweight, hops here and there on stage as if the years haven’t passed, that is, for him they have passed, he doesn’t have the lean physique of an Iggy, but the voice has remained incredibly young, they play “CID” (as the first song), "Warhead", with unexpected energy. And all the lyrics are political: "this is for the government, Organized Crime." Part of the audience seems like they stepped out of a bad film from 1977, a few teddy boys, 10 people moshing, and even a couple of “original punks,” but the overall effect is ridiculous, it looks like a costume party. A bad film. Unbearable. A Karaoke evening. Absurd. Somehow entertaining. Coming off the stage, Charlie delivers a final message in German, clearly articulating the words: "punk-rock-ist-nicht-tot." Maybe it’s not dead, but it has aged quite a bit.