Ruts DC - 02 Academy 2, Liverpool, 26/11/2022

  by Richard Lewis

published: 20 / 3 / 2023

Warming the stage for headliners Ruts DC, former frontman of The Adverts TV Smith is working up a sweat. Bashing ten shades of shit out of an outsized acoustic, Smith passionately delivers his old band’s tracks ‘No Time to Be 21’ and ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ alongside a score of solo cuts. Anti-nuclear tirade ‘Tomahawk Cruise’ feels depressingly relevant in the present day. The rickety charm of the Adverts’ debut single ‘One Chord Wonders’ confirms their place in the firmament of OG punks. Appearing on stage in uniform shades and trilbies, Ruts DC rip into new track ‘Faces In the Sky’, swiftly followed by the churning riffs of 1979 classic ‘S.U.S.’; a broadside at the Met’s heavy-handed stop and search tactics. As befits a group acclaimed for their deft synthesis of punk rock and dub reggae, bassist John ‘Segs’ Jennings and sticksman Dave Ruffy are an exemplary rhythm section. They are complemented by Leigh Heggarty’s superb six string work. Lead vocalist Jennings also possesses a nice line in stage patter. “Here’s a ballad… Nah fuck that!” he yells, prior to a rampage through ‘You’re Just A...’. Over thirty years since the appearance of ground-breaking debut LP ‘The Crack’, the Ruts’ unfussy, straight ahead sound – taut, melodic and delivered in pugnacious fashion – has aged extremely well. More atmospheric but still spiky moments, such as ‘It Was Cold’, point the way forward to post-punk and early U2 and Killing Joke. Amidst a plethora of songs from the band’s initial run, tracks from 2016s ‘Music Must Destroy’ and this year’s ‘Counter Culture?’ LP slot into the set seamlessly. ‘Something That I Said’ roars along like Husker Du’s finest moments, underlining the Ruts influence on nascent US alt. rock (Henry Rollins is a superfan). Hitting the final stretch, an extended reading of debut single ‘In A Rut’ swerves away from its central riff to pay tribute to a score of recently departed luminaries. The super charged boogie of ‘Silver Machine’ doffs its cap to Hawkwind, the metallic motif of ‘Public Image’ pays homage to PiLs Keith Levene and the band plays the splintering riffs of ‘Roxette’ for Dr. Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson. Revving up, ‘Babylon’s Burning’ the Ruts calling card, blazes as fiercely as ever, concluding the main set. The pacing wrongfoots the audience slightly; several leave, leading to a slightly depleted crowd for an encore, which includes a blast through early days landmark ‘Staring At The Rude Boys’. With energy levels that put groups half their age to shame and the catalogue to boot, Ruts DCs’ punky reggae party shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

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