The Buzzcocks in Oakland on 4/20!

Last night I saw The Buzzcocks play at the Uptown Nightclub in Oakland. I've been wanting to see them, so this was an exciting treat for sure. I had a fun time and bumped in to some friends unexpectedly. The venue was pretty small, which paired up nicely with the freak heat wave we are having suddenly in the Bay Area. There was a wide variety of ages and people there. I did see a lot of people wearing cool shirts that get my stamp of approval. I saw the Jam, The Stooges, The Who, and lots of other great stuff. I was amongst my peers for certain. The Buzzcocks didn't come on until midnight! The guy next to me kept yelling that Pete Shelley was a prick, perhaps I met him with a confused glance and he started to explain to me. He said that Pete Shelley is the Axl Rose of punk rock, and doesn't go on stage until "he feels like it." If that's the case, fuck that kind of attitude. But in my position, first time seeing this band live it's a hard judgement to make.

They hit the stage with "Boredom" and went from song to song in true punk fashion. They counted down the songs like the Ramones, and the audience went, for lack of a better term, ape shit. A few fights broke out from one simple misunderstanding that turned into a drink being thrown into another face. I saw the whole thing happen because it was just feet from me....fun. Lots of crowd surfing the genuine punkers throwing their bodies into the audience. I was dripping in sweat the whole time, both my own and all the sweaty disgusting strangers around me.

Pete Shelley's voice was pretty impressive because it sounded exactly like it did back in the 70's. Usually a singers voice changes over time, his is still surprisingly pristine. The energy coming from Steve Diggle was equally impressive. He was all over the place in a Pete Townshend wind mill fashion. They were certainly sweating bullets along with the audience. They did all the songs I wanted to hear, which was easy because they went from song to song. They didn't have a merch table so I wasn't able to score a shirt. I just have my memories, and this blurry camera phone picture of the only time Steve and Pete came together on stage. Otherwise they stayed very separate. Not only that but Pete had his back to the audience a good amount of the time. Diva.

It is hard to take pictures while being pushed around and these two turned out the best even though it's still pretty blurry.

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