The Undertones review – silver-haired fans get Teenage Kicks once more
Derry’s answer to the Ramones play 30 songs in a breakneck and breathless ride through the punk humour and new-wave surrealism of their repertoire
“This is the first record we ever made. Still sounds good to me,” smiles bassist Mickey Bradley, deliberately downplaying the song released in 1978 that secured the Undertones’ legacy for almost 50 years and counting. Played hard and unceremoniously tonight, Teenage Kicks still sounds lonely, horny, thrilling: it’s the stuff of raw teen spirit, but has also aged poignantly with the Derry band and their now silver-haired audience, with something moving to say about the weight of nostalgia.
When brothers John and Damian O’Neill’s guitars crash to a halt, many in the crowd are hugging – but the Undertones are already on to the next. This anniversary tour is far from sentimental: ripping through 30 songs in 90 minutes, it’s a breakneck ride through the punk humour, new-wave surrealism and open vulnerability of their first two albums.
skip past newsletter promotion
after newsletter promotion
You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It!), with its bouncing, fidgety frustration, remains an all-timer about waiting by the phone, while Male Model rages against a penny-pinched fashion crisis with a tongue-in-cheek, Ramones-y chorus. There’s surfy guitar and barbershop harmonies on (She’s a) Runaround, mixed with slice-of-life commentary about a girl dithering her life away, and the quiet tragedy of Jimmy Jimmy buried beneath that earworm melody. All the while drummer Billy Doherty is flying, holding the band to a breathless pace.
The first incarnation of the Undertones lasted just eight years, and when they returned in 1999 it was without quivery-voiced frontman, Feargal Sharkey. Singer Paul McLoone was a savvy recruitment – he pulls off the shaky, brittle vocals that some of their classics demand, but is otherwise an entirely distinct performer. Tonight he’s flamboyant, cutting flamenco shapes with his arms twisted in the air, and his richer voice brings out the hip-shaking, even glam, qualities of rock’n’roll tracks such as Get Over You and (relatively) newer cut 2003’s Thrill Me.
Despite its morbid title, unreleased newbie Time is Terminal accelerates faster still – as if the band are playing to outrun that teenage legacy, rather than indulge it. Are teenage dreams so hard to beat? Bus-pass punk feels just as essential. Here’s to the next 50 years.
- The Undertones are touring the UK and Ireland.
Originally published by theguardian.com. Syndicated material does not necessarily reflect the views of GQ British Lifestyle.
