Saturday night at Reggie’s was a very special night as Martin Atkins and Chris Connelly put together a really talented band to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Public Image Ltd. album, The Flowers Of Romance. How 45 years has already passed since this amazing album was released is alarming to us old timers! Surely it just came out a few years ago, not more than four decades! That album, my personal favorite PiL album, is a true landmark of post punk, and the drum sound on that album is still a benchmark by which I judge record production by.
On the subject of post-punk, a much newer band playing that style of music is Ganser. They’ve been impressing people left and right the last few years opening up for some heavy hitter bands and this night was no different. They make a big sound for only having three members, and they are so good at their craft that you’d think that they too were around for decades. They get better every time they perform, and they really have their sound nailed down. Their 30 minute set was incredibly entertaining and soon the band will be off to Europe to tour there for the first time, where I’m sure they are going to impress everyone who is lucky or smart enough to see them play.
The club was packed when The Flowers Of Romance Revisited took the stage. Martin Atkins came out first and shared some stories and history of that legendary PiL album, and also talked about the Museum Of Post Punk and Industrial Music that he runs. His stories are always fascinating and this was no different. As he finished up, the band took their places and it was a tight squeeze as there was a lot of musicians in this band. The band was comprised of Martin Atkins, Chris Connelly, Robert Byrne (of Denied Remarks and Insane War Tomatoes fame!), Lelia Royale, Orville Kline, Alicia Gaines, and Alan Lake. You couldn’t have asked for more capable people to pull this off than the ones assembled.
The band opened with “Four Enclosed Walls”, which is super heavy on the amazing Martin Atkins drumming and a personal favorite. From there they played the rest of the album in the proper order. Everyone did an amazing job in their respective roles, and Chri Connelly’s vocals were a perfect fit for these songs. This performance was something really special, and one of those once in a lifetime events that you feel extremely fortunate to witness. Whoever did the sound in the club that night should get a raise, everything was crystal clear and sounded amazing! The audience was completely captivated the entire set.
Once they got through the album, they played the two outtakes from it, “1981,” and “Vampire”. The former ended up being re-recorded for This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get and the latter was never released on anything! That was a real treat in itself, but there was more! The band then ended the night with “The Order Of Death”, “Swan Lake”, and “Public Image”. That last track was one that Chris Connelly sang in Revolting Cocks was back on the Beers, Steers, and Queers tour, so it was a full circle moment. When the band left the stage, they got a big round of applause and really sent the people home happy to have been part of this unique event.
