Jah Wobble

Hebden Bridge Trades Club 23/3/12

This was always going to be an odd one. I've been a long term fan of Public Image Ltd and intermittently appreciated Wobble's solo work and ecelectic collaborations down the years. I hugely enjoyed his 'Memoirs Of A Geeser' - a high velocity autobiography shot through with deadly humour and a survivior's instinct. I'm no musician but even so can appreciate his influential, self-taught bass technique. His book goes into some detail about his love of the instrument and how he learned it by touch and feel, as an external extension of his inner pysche. This relationship with the bass makes for compelling watching. He's not so much in a zone but he seems to have created an organic relationship with the instrument. He cradles it, the fingers constantly ablur.

Tonight he's re-united with original PIL and The Clash guitarist Keith Levene, himself recovering from long-standing drug issues. They are here to re-create 1979's Metal Box, undoubtedly PIL's finest album - largely responsible for what we now know to have been post-punk.

Hebden Bridge is the perfect setting for this re-creation, a suitably down-to-earth crowd, largely pissed by the time they get going around 9.10pm. The stage is a caged area, barely elevated above the floor itself, and it's sold out with a mixed bag of around 250 ageing punks, the curious and, this being Hebden Bridge, the downright weird.

I'd been speculating how Wobble would address the vocals and after the first warm-up instrumental on strolls Nathan Maverick, in full length leopard skin coat. He IS John Lydon, complete with sneer and shoulders back arrogance. His voice is uncannily like the man himself but he plays it straight - this is no impersonation but a re-creation, neither is it a tribute, but a homage. It's a make or break moment, one that I fear may have me fleeing for the exit, but it works. Levene's shredding guitar sounds magnificent. There is a lone trumpeter who frequently picks out the only melody amid the minor chord wall of sound but the beat is propulsive, veering towards post-funk, if there is such a thing. It works, the songs sound as fresh as ever and Wobble orchestrates it beautifully, seamlessly calling the shots as the songs just keep on coming. His eye contact with Levene is constant, like a Dad leading his errant son through the songs he had once learnt but had since forgotten. Levene seems to gain energy as the show progresses. His frailty gives way to a broad smile and he relishes the opportunity to show off the kind of guitar skills that so heavily influenced bands from the post-punk era.

So we get 'Memories', 'Poptones', 'Chant', 'Theme', 'Careering', 'Albatross' plus a couple of bonuses - 'Low Life' and the first single 'Public Image'. It IS an odd sight, half of PIL and a doppleganger imposter and it's a brave move by Wobble who could so easily have settled for touring with the current version of Lydon's PIL. Ultimately it's about the songs and a great album  - on this occasion faithfully and thrillingly executed.