{"id":23864,"date":"2023-12-19T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=23864"},"modified":"2023-12-18T22:29:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T22:29:14","slug":"the-bar-stool-preachers-ultrabomb-clwb-ifor-bach-cardiff-16th-december-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=23864","title":{"rendered":"The Bar Stool Preachers\/UltraBomb \u2013 Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff \u2013 16th<\/sup> December 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cIt\u2019s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it most certainly is in Cardiff city centre tonight, as trying to find a parking space close to the venue is verging on the impossible. I mean it’s only 7pm, yet I\u2019m having to hotfoot it halfway across Cardiff as I don\u2019t want to miss any of tonight\u2019s openers, punk rock supergroup, Ultrabomb. That\u2019s because tonight\u2019s gig is one of those dreaded club (or should that be clwb?) nights with an early start and curfew. It\u2019s \u201ctime to burn\u201d indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not alone in my desire to catch UltraBomb either as the top floor of Clwb Ifor is respectably full for the arrival of ex-H\u00fcsker D\u00fc bassist Greg Norton, The Mahones guitarist\/singer Finny McConnell and drummer extraordinaire Jamie\u2026.no wait, that\u2019s not him behind the kit, that\u2019s Oliver Perry who also just happens to be drumming for tonight\u2019s headliners The Bar Stool Preachers too. Yup, step up that man, because tonight, for one night only, Perry (as he\u2019s affectionately known by his bandmates) totally owns Cardiff, playing two sets on the bounce, and there\u2019s plenty of that to come that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On paper, the Irish folk undertones hidden within UltraBomb\u2019s music shouldn\u2019t really be my musical cup of tea, but when they\u2019re driven headlong into the more distorted and frenzied influence of the band\u2019s rhythm section it all comes together to make one magnificent racket indeed. Frontman Fin cuts an immediately affable persona with the band playing a mixture of songs from da Bomb\u2019s debut record \u2018Time To Burn\u2019 along with a few choice cuts from his and his bandmate\u2019s previous bands, the pick of which for me was probably a particularly rousing version of \u2018Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely\u2019. Of UltraBomb\u2019s original tunes \u2018Star\u2019 shone brightest over the Cardiff skyline tonight, and talking of wise men RPM\u2019s head honcho Dom Daley arrives (fashionably late as always) just in time for the double whammy of \u2018Sonic Reducer\u2019 and \u2018New Day Rising\u2019 that brings things to a close. If you are lucky enough to have tickets for the handful of dates left of this run of shows make sure you get in early doors because UltraBomb really are the, err\u2026 bomb!<\/p>\n\n\n

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As the lights go up I take some time to look around me at tonight\u2019s assembled throng to fully appreciate just how far The Bar Stool Preachers have come since the release of their third album \u2018Above The Static\u2019, and just like my gig going amigo Mr Daley observed during the band\u2019s Newport show all the way back in May, the thing that immediately leaps out at me is just how diverse the audience is. Granted there\u2019s probably around double the number of people in here than that Le Pub show but with the power of Bauer and a great record behind them they really do seem to be crossing over from their original punk\/ska fanbase.\u00a0 There\u2019s a guy in an Iron Maiden battle jacket stood next to a girl in an Interrupters shirt who\u2019s chatting to a couple on a night out who are stood next to a mother and son and yup there\u2019s still a fair smattering of us old bald heads present too. The thing we all have in common though is our mutual love of all things Bar Stool Preachers, which is never more obvious than when the band explodes onto the stage with opener \u2019Call Me On The Way Home\u2019 and the whole place, as one, goes suitably nuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Grazie Governo\u2019 and \u2018All Turned Blue\u2019 quickly follow before I realise that the Preachers are a man down this evening, guitarist Karl having recently broken a leg in three places and having to sit out the rest of the tour.  However, this has to be for the best as the versions of \u2018DLTDHYOTWO\u2019 and \u2018One Fool Down\u2019 (complete with acoustic and full throttle versions just like prime-time Scorpions would have done back in the 80s) that immediately follow are so powerful it\u2019s impossible to stand still and all I can say really is \u201cget well soon fella.\u201d It must be soooo frustrating though to be missing out on these shows as The Bar Stool Preachers really are on fire right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what comes from working your arses off though, and along with Grade 2 these lads must be the hardest working band in the UK right now\u2026.and trust me, it shows. There\u2019s a real arena quality in frontman Tom McFaull\u2019s delivery and he\u2019s never sounded better than on the likes of \u2018Doorstep\u2019 or the encore of \u2018Lighthouse\u2019 where the quality of the band\u2019s songwriting really does speak volumes.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I\u2019ve told Tom a few times over the years that every time I see him and the band live they always seem go up a notch, and tonight is certainly no exception as the band somehow manages to squeeze every drop of energy out of the Cardiff crowd, with the likes of \u2018Don\u2019t Die Today\u2019, Choose My Friends\u2019 and \u2018Flatlined\u2019 all getting the audience and dancefloor bouncing to the extent that I fear we all may end up in the dressing rooms below, and then there\u2019s the main set closer \u20188.6 Days (All The Broken Hearts)\u2019 perfectly slotting into the BSP set list jigsaw leaving everyone soaked to the skin in sweat, and not just their own either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to the stage with Tom proudly announcing that the band will be back in early 2024 for another set of shows, before then unleashing a brutal \u201cskank off\u201d version of their signature tune \u2018Bar Stool Preacher\u2019, I cannot help but think that the next 12 months will be crucial to the next stage of the band\u2019s evolution not just here in the UK but worldwide. Their peers like Bob Vylan and Kid Kapichi are already getting added to major US rock festivals next year, so the time has (on the face of it) never been better for the Preachers to take their righteous fight truly global.  Whatever happens next though, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll join with me in wishing them well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMerry Christmas and \u2018appy New Year everyone!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.\u201d Well, it most certainly is in Cardiff city centre tonight, as trying to find a parking space close to the venue is verging on the impossible. I mean it’s only 7pm, yet I\u2019m having to hotfoot it halfway across Cardiff as I don\u2019t want to miss any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[75,1975,7553],"class_list":["post-23864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-bar-stool-preachers","tag-clwb-ifor-bach","tag-ultrabomb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23871,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23864\/revisions\/23871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}