First band of the night, for me, was ‘The Army of Skanks’, a Coventry based five some consisting of 4 punked up, very smiley and slightly skittish ladies and one, assumedly, very lucky guy.

 

 I have to say even though I’m a lot more critical about female fronted bands, I was pleasantly surprised by this lot in that I didn’t hate them. The vocals pulled me through the performance, musical skills being pretty solid too, it was just the cliché of a female band wanting to prove that they were as good as any other by doing something a bit crazy that I felt disenchanted by, again. If you’re talented and the music is good, that’s all you need (and a good PR).

 

Next on stage were ‘The Idol Dead’. A cheeky little northern number, they got the crowd going and had enough banter to cover over a few minor cracks in song performance. I enjoy my punk with a little side of cheese and I really enjoyed these guys.

 

Now, I can’t profess that I am an undying Ramones follower and I didn’t quite know what to expect from this gig. There was always the potential that this was going to be a horrendous gig experience for an aging, over the hill, ex-band member.

 

Thank god it wasn’t.

 

Richie Ramone was metaphorically and almost literally too big for the stage at the Coventry Kasbah, his towering 6ft 3 frame cut an impressive figure looming over the front barrier fans. Mixing up Ramones classics and his own solo songs, from his recent album Entitled, he commanded the stage whether it was behind his drum kit or with mic in hand. His band were nothing but pro’s, clearly enjoying the stage and had the running of the set down to a fine art.  

 

By the middle of the set there was a genuine party atmosphere, everybody was dancing and enjoying the efforts of musicians evidently relishing their job. There was no let up in pace or energy when coming back on stage for a two song encore.

 

Even though this was far from the biggest gig either Richie or the Kasbah had seen, it really lent weight to the old saying, ‘Quality over Quantity’, the guys who were there to see Blitzkrieg Bop and go were gone and the people who really appreciated what they were seeing and listening to stayed to the bitter end, baying for more of the once idolised, mighty Ramone.