I first saw Jah Wobble playing his thunderous bass in the early days of Public Image Ltd at the Rainbow in London on December 26th, 1978. While I have followed his music career and prolific output with great interest I am embarrassed to say that I have not witnessed him in a live environment since then. Well until this Pocklington show. what are more than 45 years among friends right? This was my first visit to the Pocklington Arts Centre and what an awesome venue it is! I had a tiny problem when getting there in that I wasn’t showing on the press list. The staff, and the band, sorted it out in a matter of minutes. The staff were interested and attentive all night and the band sent a message saying thy hoped that I would enjoy the show. Did I enjoy it? Just read on to find out, but regular readers probably already know the answer to that question.
There were two 1 hour sets scheduled with a break/ intermission between them. It is apparent from the off that Wobble is a really witty raconteur as he regaled us with some fabulous tales. If you want proof of just how good a raconteur he is, check out my review of his book here. This was to be his first gig wearing spectacles, he bought said eyewear using a “plan” and spoke about everything (cars, dentists, opticians, etc.) being on a “plan”. He floated an idea of a “plan” for Invaders of the Heart, Fifty grand, and then everything after that is free, seems like a good deal doesn’t it? In opening set 1 Wobble said that there would be no set list, just chaos, a very old-school punk attitude. There were many highlights during that first hour. “Becoming More Like God” was an inspiring, transcendental masterpiece. I love Jah Wobble’s take on older Public Image material. He makes the song “Public Image” his own and follows it with a dub version where the bass can be felt in your chest. Truly spectacular and it retains the sentiment of the original while being so far removed musically. The extended funky jazz jam at the end of “Visions Of You” was stunning. Another old PiL tune, “Poptones” got a stylish introduction with Wobble doing his best Laurence Olivier vibe with the “Now is the winter of our discontent” speech from William Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’.
Set 2 was another collection of mountainous highlights. “Every Man Is An Island” is an exotic, eastern-flavoured, excursion into the magic of music with the best guitar solo of the night. “The Socialist” was predominantly a funky jazz groove, but with added metal chords. “Careering” veered and careered in a sublime psychedelic direction. In his time Wobble has covered some great film music, “Get Carter” is impeccable and feels cinematic in the way the band plays it. How could anyone not love the dubby version of the Harry J classic “The Liquidator”, that was perhaps one of the best points of the second set for me, but there was some amazing competition. The little skit with Wobble referring to the bass guitar as the lion and therefore the king of the jungle was marvellously entertaining. Then he introduced each member of the band and referred to their instrument’s position in the jungle musical hierarchy. The guitar is the meerkat, the drums are the elephant and the keys are the snake!
What genre are the Invaders of the Heart? Are they post-punk, jazz, funk, groove, spoken word, reggae, dub, punk, world, avant-garde? They are every one of those and so much more. I will definitely not be leaving it 40-plus years before I see John Wardle playing live again. I also plan on returning to the Pocklington Arts Centre very soon!
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