Originally published by L.S. Media. October 26th 2008.

The Stranglers came to Liverpool Academy on the back of a truly hectic night in Birmingham.

This was to be their tenth gig inside fourteen nights and in all honesty, you would wonder if it was beginning to take its toll on their health or on the music that they have spent so long honing.

With people glad to be inside the venue and out off the bitter cold that was descending on the Liverpool streets, The Stranglers came on stage to their now famous introduction music Waltz in Black. They proceeded to give a lesson in pure music to the crowd, only breaking off occasionally to ask if the audience were enjoying themselves, (which was always answered back with an emphatic roar of approval) or to quickly retune a guitar which had been hammered out of shape by the gut busting riffs provided by bassist Jean Jacques Burnell and main Vocalist/guitarist Baz Warne.

Baz Warne told me before the gig, (as he was catching a small breather in the dressing room) that he thought playing in Liverpool was like playing in his home city of Sunderland, giving a nod to the sound work ethic of the City, it’s vibrancy and working class roots but most of all its iconic status in British music.

With little time before the gig, I was able to ask him who his inspirations were, and with a grin he reeled off Angus Young (AC/DC) and the late great James Honeyman Smith from the Pretenders. Perhaps the biggest surprise was Baz admitting that he remembered seeing Status Quo on Top of the Pops playing Paper Plane and upon seeing the long flowing hair on the band members’ heads, he thought “I’ll have some of that”.

The set itself was billed as “The Greatest Hits 42/40 tour” (a reference to the fact that they have had 42 top forty hits including albums) and it showed as they played at almost breakneck pace through the opener (Get a) Grip (on yourself) and the almost nuclear 5 mins.

By giving little nods and winks to the audience at various parts of the set, Jean Jacques Burnell always looks as though he is letting the crowd in on some massive secret joke. It is remarkable for a band that has been going for over thirty years to still appear as though they are having an awful lot of fun on stage.

One of the biggest cheers of the night was reserved for the introduction of Jet Black on drums, with Jean Jacques referring to his bad health, (Jet Black had a heart attack at the start of the year, severely curtailing his appearances during the summer) as the man who came back from the dead…twice. For a man of seventy though, he still plays drums better than almost anybody in rock today.

Other songs played during the night were the irreplaceable Peaches, a truly brilliant version of Spectre of Love and old favourites such as Always the sun, Golden Brown and Hanging around.

The Stranglers find themselves at the pinnacle of the genre and a source of inspiration to newer bands such as Kaiser Chiefs, and yet it is with some modesty on Baz Warne’s part when he describes The Stranglers as a marmite band, “either you love us or you hate us.” Judging by everyone’s reaction to the encores of the still sadly prophetic “Something Better Change” and the stand out track No More Heroes, you can quite honestly say that everyone who was there that night most definitely loved them.

Ian D. Hall