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

[Martin Percival <martinpercival AT yahoo.com>]

If anyone had doubts about the Slits shows and was in
two minds as to whether or not to go - well, on the
strength of last night, I advise you to GO SEE 'EM!!

Ari, Tessa and the 4 new members were on great form on
a cold Monday night in Boston. I can honestly say I
enjoyed it more than my one previous Slits show in
1980 in High Wycombe. My favourite period was "Cut"
but when I should have seen them open for the Clash on
the "Sort it Out" tour in Dec 1978 the show in
Aylesbury was sold out. By 1980 the band had moved on
and were into their highly reggae influenced period,
some of which I liked but I preferred the feel and
energy of the "Cut" era. Live in 1980 they were a
little cold too, understandably especially of
provincial punk audiences who still hadn't stopped
gobbing yet.

Last night Ari was bouncing around the stage and
clearly having a blast, Tessa looked a little nervous
but was also enjoying herself, Anna on drums helped
hold it all together (she's allegedly Paul Cook's
daughter -  can't confirm if that's true or not but
there's a likeness) and Holly on backing vocals was
great in filling out Ari's overall sound. The 2
guitarists, whose names I didn't catch, were also on
fine form.

The band didn't come on until 12.15am and opened
unexpectedly with a great version of Massive Attack's
"Man Next Door". Other songs included "Kill them with
Love" from the new single on SAF Records plus "Animal
Space", "FM", "New Town" and "Typical Girls". Some of
Ari's solo material was played too plus one song that
Ari said they'd never played before. At 1.20am it was
over. No encore was planned but the crowd demanded
more so a reprise of "Shoplifting" was their reward. 

All in all a great night when the band clearly had as
much fun as the audience, always a good sign!

Martin