Tonight’s opening band Face Up! are running late, so much so that the doors are delayed whilst they soundcheck and set up. It means they only have twenty minutes to prep before showtime and if they’re flustered at all, they don’t show it. As their first shot ‘Stand Together’ suggests, they seem to be a band who are in a constant fight against the clock; it’s an amphetamine brand of hardcore punk which they deliver (with the emphasis on hard) that veers into crossover territory (and the guitarist gets extra marks for sporting a Cro-Mags shirt). Armed with a bunch of terrace ready anthems that are delivered by a female vocalist who sings from the floor, Face Up! are difficult to ignore but when the tracks are as good as closer ‘Stand Fight Live Die’ why would you want to? Love or loathe them, it’s obvious this crew are going to be around for a while, but it’s like their t-shirts say; “Face Up…Or Fuck Off!”.

I’m not sure what sub-category of punk Spunk Volcano And The Eruptions fall into, but whatever it is, I like it. They’ve a lyricism that’s focuses on the minutiae of modern life and that makes them very relatable; anybody who misspent their youth on concrete, windswept precincts will recognise themselves in ‘Hanging Round The Shops’, whilst those of a certain age with a penchant for Saturday morning television and World Of Sport will give a wry smile at the appearance of ‘Giant Haystacks’. While it’s certainly true that the band aren’t breaking new ground or reinventing the wheel, that’s not necessarily a band thing, and when they’ve got songs as good as ‘Nobhead’ in their arsenal they can be forgiven almost anything. The singer (Spunk Volcano, I assume) sports a balaclava and looks like an urban terrorist, making his words all the more caustic whilst The Eruptions unleash all sorts of musical explosions, and ‘XR3’ (about the car, naturally) makes the perfect closer.

The word “legendary” is thrown around with reckless abandon these days, so much so that it has lost most of its currency, but when in comes to GBH, no other word will suffice. Birmingham’s second most famous sons (after Sabbath, obviously) have an influence that stretches far beyond record sales or other signifiers of material success. Having inspired everyone from Bathory to Metallica via Guns ‘N’ Roses and Rancid, you kind of feel that a piece of GBH vinyl should be in every home, and the fact that they’re not is a damning indictment on society. However, it’s those in the know who really count and a near-capacity crowd are crammed into the Craufurd Arms to witness only the band’s second gig in Milton Keynes, and the band hit the ground running with two cuts from 1983 album City Baby’s Revenge – 101 Ways To Kill A Rat. There’s no time for fancy introductions; the band just plug in and play, and that makes ‘Diplomatic Immunity’ and ‘Drugs Party In 526’ the perfect one-two punch.

With the majority of tonight’s set culled from pre-1984, GBH give the fans exactly what they want and serve up a delectable delight of hard-yet-melodic punk anthems. Cuts such as ‘Maniac’ and ‘Gunned Down’ are tailor made for a boozy Saturday night and it doesn’t take long for a pit to erupt as the spiky-tops mosh and pogo to the irresistible beat of ‘Heavy Discipline’. The band play with an energy that’d put many younger bands to shame, and they could certainly learn a thing or two from GBH; with no banal between song banter, the set is unleashed like the hounds of Hades with each song connecting like a well-aimed punch. Therefore the crowd is left battered and bruised as we reach the set’s conclusion (but in the best way) with ‘City Baby Attacked By Rats’ and ‘City Baby’s Revenge’ making a cool closing couplet, but if there’s anyone left standing then the knockout blow is landed with explosive encore ‘Time Bomb’. Punk how it should be.

GBH Set List:

1. Diplomatic Immunity
2. Drugs Party In 526
3. Sick Boy
4. Slit Your Own Throat
5. Dead On Arrival
6. Wardogs
7. Maniac
8. Gunned Down
9. I Am The Hunted
10. The Prayer Of The Realist
11. Heavy Discipline
12. Boston Babies
13. Bellend Bop
14. I Never Asked For Any Of This
15. Generals
16. No Survivors
17. Fifty What?
18. Momentum
19. Give Me Fire
20. City Baby Attacked By Rats
21. City Baby’s Revenge

Encore:

22. Time Bomb

Spunk Volcano And The Eruptions Set List:

1. Intro
2. Death Or Glory
3. Crossfire
4. Hanging Round The Shops
5. NobHead
6. I Can’t Stop Thinking About You
7. TV God
8. Job Opportunity
9. Giant Haystacks
10. Little Red Buggy
11. DNA Failure
12. Platform 3
13. XR3

Face Up! Set List:

1. Stand Together
2. United Chance
3. Make You Suffer
4. In The Dark
5. The Few O.D.B
6. Rise Now
7. No Echo
8. Stand Fight Live Die