{"id":25763,"date":"2024-12-12T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=25763"},"modified":"2024-12-11T17:19:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T17:19:55","slug":"cock-sparrer-dirtbox-disco-4ft-fingers-bristol-marble-factory-8th-december-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=25763","title":{"rendered":"Cock Sparrer\/Dirtbox Disco\/4Ft Fingers \u2013 Bristol, Marble Factory \u2013 8th December 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cBrooksy, I got a feeling we\u2019re not in south Wales anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been blowing a gale outside for what feels like forever now, so much so I half expect to not have to leave the house to travel across the River Severn tonight and instead arrive Dorothy style for my last gig of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing was going to stop me being here tonight though, not the wind and most certainly not the Bristol traffic and the persistent road closures around the venue situated on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Bristol city centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, it does mean I get to the venue just as Cheltenham punkers 4ft Fingers are delivering their final chords of the evening to rapturous applause, as those in early doors (and it was early doors at 6pm) appear to have enjoyed every minute of their set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was exactly a year ago to the night that I was in Aberdare watching Dirtbox Disco deliver a fabulous headline set to an appreciative yet drenched (I\u2019m starting to see a pattern here) audience, tonight the crowd are thankfully mostly dry on the outside seemingly full of early festive cheer (and beer) ready for a good singalong and dance. Even Santa has made it down to the barrier, much to Spunk Volcano\u2019s amusement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember 1987 you fucker, I had minus presents!\u201d teases Spunk. \u201cYou were a very bad boy\u201d replies Santa. \u201cI\u2019m always a very bad boy\u201d cackles Spunk, as opener \u2018Punk Rock N Porno\u2019 sets the smut bar at just the right level for the band\u2019s fast and furious set.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Mixing (g)oldies like \u2018Tragic Roundabout\u2019, \u2018Buring\u2019 and \u2018I Dont Wanna Go Out With You\u2019 with the anthemic \u2018Unstoppable\u2019 (\u201cCock Sparrer offered me a lot of money for this song, I turned them down\u201d jokes Spunk) and the total filth of newie \u2018Second Hand Sex Toys\u2019, Spunk, Maff, Danny and Chris ensure that everyone goes home tonight with at least one of their choruses stuck in your head, with \u201cyou\u2019re a dirty dirty, dirty dirty, bastard\u201d being my particular earworm of choice tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many though it\u2019ll always be set closer \u2018My Life Is Shit\u2019, and a decade or so on from it first making it into the Dirtbox set it\u2019s still as relevant (and insanely catchy) today as it\u2019s always been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s fantastic to watch Dirtbox Disco playing to such an appreciative and substantial audience outside of Rebellion weekend, and long may it continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cock Sparrer are now some fifty two years into their career, and if recent album \u2018Hand On Heart\u2019 is anything to go by we\u2019ve never had it so good in terms of Sparrer activity. Returning to Bristol for the second time post lockdown, the Marble Factory (whilst colder than an east end villain\u2019s abattoir) is a near perfect venue for Cock Sparrer to entertain their west country troops. The sound in this place is always spot on due to the building\u2019s old stone construction and the volume at which Mick Beaufoy\u2019s police siren guitar intro to \u2018Riot Squad\u2019 blasts out the PA is enough to immediately stop any potential crimes happening around the Redcliffe area of Bristol tonight.  The crowd, of course, promptly goes nuts and for the next 75 minutes we all (and I do mean ALL) sing our hearts out to banger after banger from the Sparrer back catalogue.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Having seen Sparrer back in April of this year deliver a double shift of sets, firstly in the shape of new tracks and deep cuts and then follow that with a headline set of greatest hits, what we have tonight set list wise is a mash up of the two with the opening trio of \u2018Riot Squad\u2019, \u2018Watch Your Back\u2019 and \u2018Working\u2019 quickly followed by \u2018With My Hand On My Heart\u2019 and \u2018Mind Your Own Business\u2019 from the band\u2019s latest LP. New cuts \u2018Take It On The Chin\u2019 (guitarist Daryl Smith jokingly reassuring us all that \u201cSpunk Volcano got his \u00a310 for helping us write this one\u201d) and \u2018Here We Stand\u2019 also get included, as does the magnificent \u2018One By One\u2019 from 2017\u2019s \u2018Forever\u2019, but it\u2019s during \u2018Because You\u2019re Young\u2019 and \u2018Take \u2018Em All\u2019 that we really get to hear the Bristol faithful in full voice, something that seems to genuinely take frontman Colin McFaull aback, and the smile on his face as the crowd can clearly be heard over the band says it all really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no time for the rigmarole of an encore tonight the band thunder through \u2018England Belongs To Me\u2019 and \u2018We\u2019re Coming Back\u2019 to conclude proceedings, closing things out as only Cock Sparrer can by promising they will be coming back \u2026soon. Lovely jubbly!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cBrooksy, I got a feeling we\u2019re not in south Wales anymore.\u201d It\u2019s been blowing a gale outside for what feels like forever now, so much so I half expect to not have to leave the house to travel across the River Severn tonight and instead arrive Dorothy style for my last gig of the year. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[8645,5871,101,95,8402],"class_list":["post-25763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-4ft-fingers","tag-bristol","tag-cock-sparrer","tag-dirtbox-disco","tag-oi-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25763","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=25763"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25768,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25763\/revisions\/25768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}