{"id":24595,"date":"2024-04-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=24595"},"modified":"2024-04-10T06:30:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T06:30:07","slug":"cock-sparrer-o2-shepherds-bush-empire-london-6th-april-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=24595","title":{"rendered":"Cock Sparrer \u2013 O2 Shepherd\u2019s Bush Empire, London \u2013 6th<\/sup> April 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019d hazard a guess that there\u2019s not many bands that can headline a venue the size of the Shepherd\u2019s Bush Empire where you\u2019d find band members in the neighbouring pubs before the show happy to chat and have selfies taken with their fans. Then again Cock Sparrer are not just any ole headline band, and as frontman Colin McFaull is quick to point out towards the end of their headline set here tonight \u201cwithout you the fans we really wouldn\u2019t be doing what we are doing right now\u201d, so they appreciate our support, a hell of a lot. Especially as this, the first gig in support of the release of their latest album \u2018Hand On Heart\u2019, has also just happened to coincide with the latest round of rail strikes here in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For yours truly this means around 7 hours in total on a coach travelling up and back from south Wales for the gig, but that\u2019s nothing compared to the time and money invested in today by those who have travelled from not only other parts of the UK but also Europe and the US, all eager to once again see everyone\u2019s favourite Oi! streetpunk band performing live, and with this aim in common when we all do finally get together we are just like one big happy family.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Having been lucky enough to secure tickets for one of the fiftieth anniversary shows the band put together at The Roundhouse a couple of years back, I\u2019ll admit that I really enjoyed the format of that gig with the band playing two sets instead of having a support act, and here tonight that is repeated, albeit here the first set is a mash up of deep cuts and new tracks and the second being the regular \u201chits(?)\u201d package. What is really odd though is when the band (once again complete with the Cockettes – James Bragg on guitar and backing vocals and Jet Baker on keyboards and backing vocals) do take to the stage a little after 8pm tonight it\u2019s almost like they are the support band as the crowd is not only initially quite sparse (keep this in mind for what is to follow) down the front but oddly a little subdued when the intro tape of \u2018Last Orders\u2019 blasts out of the PA segueing neatly into \u2018Sunday Stripper\u2019, a track I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve heard the band play live since the back to back Kentish Town Forum shows all the way back in March 2010. It\u2019s the new songs I\u2019ve been really looking forward to hearing live for the first time though and \u2018With My Hand On My Heart\u2019 quickly follows along with \u2018Mind Your Own Business\u2019 the opening 1-2 from the \u2018Hand On Heart\u2019 album and these two start to warm those of us down the front up very nicely indeed. Of the older tunes included \u2018Roads To Freedom\u2019 from the \u2018Guilty As Charged\u2019 album gets its live debut, whilst (possibly the only Oi! song to ever be written about Potsdam) \u2018Bats Out\u2019 from \u2018Two Monkeys\u2019 makes a welcome return after featuring in the Roundhouse set, and then there\u2019s \u2018Shock Troops\u2019 deep cut \u2018Secret Army\u2019 and \u2018Contender\u2019 from 2018\u2019s \u2018Forever\u2019 to prove there\u2019s much more to those records than what is about to follow in the next hour. As for the rest of \u2018Hand On Heart\u2019 (which is out to buy right now folks, something Colin and guitarist Daryl Smith remind us many times over tonight – and why not) we also get \u2018I Belong To You\u2019, \u2018Take It On The Chin\u2019 (written with the mighty Spunk Volcano no less) and \u2018Here We Stand\u2019 before we return to \u2018Guilty As Charged\u2019 for first set closer \u2018We Know How To Live\u2019, a song that bassist Steve Burgess apparently wrote as the band\u2019s answer to the Minder theme tune. Well, you live and learn, eh?<\/p>\n\n\n

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As the band heads off for some cheese sandwiches and a small Jack Daniels between sets we are left to partake of our own ablutions and libations, only we would do if we could actually get anywhere near the toilets and bars, as the stalls are now totally rammed. Dangerously so in the case of the stairs leading to the toilets, thankfully though in spite of the skinhead tough guy image egos really are checked in at the door when you go see Cock Sparrer and even when a mate of mine accidentally spills a bloke\u2019s pint bashing into him it\u2019s all okay and hands are shaken with nothing further to be said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, trying to return to our original vantage spot in time for set two is never going to be on the cards, but we are close enough to experience the energy surge as the \u2018Overture\u2019 intro tape goes up and the cooling alcoholic rain that falls during the nee-naw, nee-naw guitar intro of \u2018Riot Squad\u2019 is actually quite refreshing. Let\u2019s just be thankful it\u2019s not warm, especially given the toilet situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set mainstays \u2018Watch Your Back\u2019 and \u2018Working\u2019 follow and these raise the temperature even higher, whilst it\u2019s during a frantic \u2018Teenage Heart\u2019 that my fifty-something heart decides to play silly buggers with me, and this Droog does indeed have to run, all the way to the medical room for some much-needed fresh air. I have to say the stewards and medical team at the Empire were both superb in responding to my heart issues, and thankfully as I now know what I\u2019m dealing with I only need to take a brief (7-song) sabbatical from the Sparrer party fully raging just a few feet away. My only hope is that the American lady who was entering the room as I was leaving was okay too as she didn\u2019t seem in a good place at all. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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Relocating to the balcony just in time for \u2018Because You\u2019re Young\u2019 (oh the irony eh) the first thing  I note is that guitarist Mick Beaufoy is now sitting down whilst playing (apparently he\u2019s not been too well either) and behind the kit Steve Bruce whilst still hammering away like a piston engine has rather sensibly slowed the tempo down a touch for the finale of \u2018England Belongs To Me\u2019 and \u2018We\u2019re Coming Back\u2019 to not only reflect the fact that the band aren\u2019t exactly spring chickens anymore\u2026but also that they have another double set show to play in Glasgow in a just a few days\u2019 time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0I said at the top of this review that there are not many bands like Cock Sparrer, and that\u2019s why with \u2018Hand On Heart\u2019 in the shops and a series of live shows booked throughout the year to help promote the record we should truly value the time we have with the band more now than ever. That\u2019s because hand on my (dodgy) heart punk rock music doesn\u2019t get much better than this.\u00a0 Long may it continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy the new album ‘Hand On Heart’ Here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019d hazard a guess that there\u2019s not many bands that can headline a venue the size of the Shepherd\u2019s Bush Empire where you\u2019d find band members in the neighbouring pubs before the show happy to chat and have selfies taken with their fans. Then again Cock Sparrer are not just any ole headline band, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-24595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-cock-sparrer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24595","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=24595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24600,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24595\/revisions\/24600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}