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typicalgirls - [TypicalGirls] Los Slits, inna Dublin stylee

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Subject: Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

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  • From: Timothy Sasscer <sasscer1 AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: typicalgirls AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [TypicalGirls] Los Slits, inna Dublin stylee
  • Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 05:42:15 -0400

thought this might be readable

slits gig chatter by way of wire list regarding dublin show hello dan

tim
asterisks imply individual posts
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myself and mr bursa attended the london show last week and i must say i quite enjoyed it. they probably played an hour-ish but there wasn't that many songs as ari's between-song patter is not exactly insubstantial. i think they just did a couple of new ones , most of the set was old slits stuff. all quite light hearted , but fun to be there.

tessa's performance was similarly low octane in london. last time i saw someone not bother to get off a chair was tom verlaine (playing with patti smith) , this left me similarly unimpressed.

also of note was an absolutely dire support band , whose name escapes me , who did a really tragic sub-libertines routine that reminded me of birdland (yes that bad). maybe mark could do a public service and remind me of their name so i can try harder to avoid them in future. p

****************************

They were called, appropriately, The Horrors.
Bad Cramps imitators with a touch of Goth.

***************************
Fergus wrote:
Finally The Slits arrived in Dublin last night and
frankly, it was a disapointment. Very late by the time
they took the stage, so it was a rather short set, as
the venue's policy on finish times is infuriatingly
strict. Very little of the old material - about 3
numbers if I rmemeber rightly, one of which
(Shoplifting) was repeated in the single song encore.
The new material wasn't bad but just didn't grab me.
No sign of Viv Albertine. Tessa sat plying her bass on
a low stool, looking like a washerwoman out of place.

A young drummer, two guitarists and a 'vocalist' (she
screamed a bit and grinned a lot), these women were
young enough to have been born after The Slits were
originally around. Then there was Ari Up, hogging the
limelight. Encouraging everyone to scream and jump up
and down, be 'dubby and punky', like it was a kids
birthday party. Constantly going on about being
thrilled to be finally playing Ireland 25 years later,
and various other platitudes about the country,
stopping at one point to talk about 'her Sex Pistols
step dad playing Irish folk records when she was
little' (leave it out will ye!), giving out about
being sex starved, saying how 'hot' she felt (cue
pouring bottled water down her crotch)... shut up and
play ! You could easily have fit another song into the
set if she had done..

'Do a runner !'

Yeah, I shoud have.

Fergus

**********************

Actually it was surprisingly good. One of the two girl guitarists did a
pretty good job (the other was barely audible) - in fact I'll bet Viv hasn't
picked up an Axe in decades, what with being a high-powered TV executive and that.

The drummer was good too - and Tessa's playing sounded decent despite the
seated pose - which worked for Wobble in PiL after all...

Trivia fans - the backing singer was Paul Cook's daughter. Mr Cook in
attendance too...
************************

yeah i know this was not exactly like seeing the slits in 1980 but all i can say is i enjoyed it. apart from the not-overly-interested ms pollitt , the rest of the band looked quite up for it and made quite a decent racket IMO.

i really hate stuff that has a whiff of cabaret to it , and i wouldn't put the slits show into that category. plucking out a comparison at random , it was a much better than the pere ubu show last year which was a real cosy pipe-and-slippers affair with no fire to it at all. not remotely up to wire/GO4 standards of course but then i guess my expectations were a bit more realistic than to expect that. i mean last 2 slits tours got blown out at the 11th hour.........p


***********************

any idea whether adrian sherwood was present to handle live mixing, as i gather (per the typicalgirls list) has been the case for some of the uk dates?

dan


indeed he was

Mark




  • [TypicalGirls] Los Slits, inna Dublin stylee, Timothy Sasscer, 05/08/2006

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