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The Bad Shepherds

Venue: The Union Chapel
Town: London
Date: 26th November
Website: www.thebadshepherds.com/

First there was Adrian Edmondson's mandolin, just strumming, and then the cittern of Troy Donockley enriched the sound adding depth and substance. Andy Dinan was biding his time, waiting for just the right moment to jump in with his fiddle completing the Celtic introduction until finally, the song. Madness' top five pop hit 'Our House' was the opening number, not a punk song as I had expected. Mid way through Donockley put down his cittern, sat and strapped himself into his uillean pipes; first the bellows under his right arm, then the pipes and finally the microphone was clipped in place and a sweet sound filled the chapel.

This would be the format for the next hour and a half. At times I expected Rolf Harris to appear on stage and say "Can you tell what it is yet?" as I played guess the intro. If this were part of a pop quiz I would have failed miserably, unlike a woman in the row before me who got very animated at varying times before Edmondson started singing. Either she had much better ears than me (not difficult) or she had seen them several times.

Edmondson does not posses a great voice - just a functional one and it only functions well on some of the tracks. 'The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)' and 'Friday Night, Saturday Morning' (both written by Terry Hall) seem particularly suited for Edmondson's flat delivery as does 'Up The Junction', 'The Model' and, somewhat strangely 'Ace Of Spades' (prompting the lager advert possibly, maybe?). When the lyrics call out for some snarl, some spite or some bile Edmondson is left wanting. The casual, mindless violence of 'Down In The Tube Station At Midnight' is absent, 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue' (mixed in with 'Blitzkreig Bop) was more Pritt Stick than Evo-Stik and he could have been singing "I wanna be rather twee" on the first of the two Sex Pistols tracks.

The playing of Donockley and Dinan is of the highest order, the intro to 'White Riot' (either a jig or a reel or possibly even one of each) was as good as any session you will hear at any folk festival. Without musicians of this calibre the mandolin Edmondson drunkenly bought would probably now be sitting in his loft.

Billed as 'The First Farewell Tour' this may have been their last performance which would be a great shame. Despite the apparent space in the Union Chapel (I believe they must have more pew space than licensing allows for gigs) this show, as most on the tour, was sold out and my ambivalence to some of the song choices seemed not to be shared by the majority of the crowd. I'm sure they're hoping that there will be more from the Bad Shepherds in 2013.

Setlist:

• " Our House
• " Anarchy in the UK
• " Making Plans For Nigel
• " Down In The Tube Station AT Midnight
• " The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)
• " Friday Night, Saturday Morning
• " Up The Junction
• " Ace Of Spades
• " The Model
• " God Save The Queen
• " Ramones Medley
• " What A Waste
• " London Calling
• " Rise
• " Once In A Lifetime

Encore: " White Riot

John Hawes
Pics:Michael Eccleshaw