Marky Ramone is one of just a few living Ramones and certainly the only survivor from one of their 1970s incarnations. He joined as a drummer in 1978 and stayed until 1983 and came back from 1987 to 1996. He is now touring as Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg. Are they any good? Read on to find out but first I need to tell you about the rather splendid support band Bones Ate Arfa from Brighton. They describe themselves as “a psychedelic street punk/desert rock three piece” and I can see why. For me they absolutely owned the stage with a solid amalgam of heavy metal, punk and angry hair metal. Their songs were immense and when they displayed the “FUCK REFORM” message I was sold! They also exist in a parallell comic book univers, I even bought one of their fabulous comic books! I definitely want to see this lot again.
Finally it was time for a true brudder and some lil brudders as Marky and his boys took the stage. I first saw the Ramones before Marky joined back in 1977 (December 31st) at the Rainbow in London. That night they played 28 songs and 21 of those were played by Blitzkrieg at this Brudenell gig tonight. Typical of the original band there is not much communication between songs although you do get the regular intros counted in as ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR. They were like an incredibly tight and well rehearsed Ramones tribute band, only they had the bonus of an original member. It was a wonderfully nostalgic night in a room packed with blokes of a certain age, like me. Aging punks are always up for a good night and this was no exception. There were plenty of highlights and my particular favourites were “Beat On The Brat”, “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”, “The KKK Took My Baby Away” and “Blitzkrieg Bop”. They also played a great version of the Louis Armstrong hit “What A Wonderful World” which Joey Ramone covered on one of his solo albums. This was an absolute blast and I loved every minute of it!
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