Rock Garden Reunion - Penetration - Georgian Theatre 11/8

I bought my ticket in January and it was sold out by February.  No mean feat even if the tickets were only a bargain bucket £8.

From what I've read the general feeling about the  RG Reunion shows admirably promoted by the genial Steve Harland, Dave Griffiths and Gary McGhee is the amount of shared love in the air.  Can only assume that these are the opinions of people who thought there was love in the air at the RG back in the day.

I like to think I'm a pretty non-judgmental fair minded kind of fellar but I've never warmed to drunken tatoo adorned ear-ringed baldies barging past me silently daring me to challenge them for spilling drink over me. Probably all in my mind but I wasn't going to check out my paranoia.  They were probably harmless and in fairness there weren't any fights or bottles thrown at the support band, the rather splendid Year of Birds but let's just say it wasn't The Kids Are Solid Gold.

Ste asked why I didn't take any photos?  The answer lies below, Pauline Murray looking like a goddess.  I see no reason to bastardise the memory for people that weren't there.

Apart from the outstanding beauty of PM, I rather liked Penetration who were a little bit different from the rama lama punk bands.  They did great cover versions of Nostalgia by The Buzzcocks and Patti Smith's, Free Money and had a few decent original tunes, Don't Dictate, Lovers of Outrage and what could have been a contender for my guilty pleasure series, Life's a Gamble.  They died a death after their first album descending into their true heavy metal roots.

Circa 2012?  See above really although much too loud.  I sometimes wonder if these reunion bands hide behind the volume but it's probably just me hiding behind my tinnitus.  I could barely hear the still fine looking (by mortal standards) and sounding Pauline Murray above the crashing guitars and drums.

The crowd lapped them up and although Year of Birds might have been agrieved by the appathy from the audience at least they didn't have glasses of piss thrown at them.  There was no such thing as audience indifference back in the day.

Here's a proper review if you're interested.