Mondo Pulp 2016 UK Tour
‘Under the Bridge’ gig – Friday 7th October 2016
I bought the 12” single ‘White Punks on Dope’ in 1976, probably off the back of reading about them in the music press, and was suitably impressed. A mighty fine ditty! Time passed and I got the Remote Control LP and again time passed (37 years…) and I saw they were on tour so thought why not. As it turns out it was one of the best evenings out in a long while and a snip at £28.50. I’m also going to explore their back catalogue now – I missed out on a lot.
I’d never been to the ‘Under the Bridge’ venue before (part of the East Stand at Chelsea FC) and what a little gem of a place it is. A wonderful small venue where you can get up and personal with the band!
It’s the first night of their Mondo Pulp 2016 tour (UK leg) but they are well drilled, tight knit on top form and look to be enjoying themselves (well they have already played Germany and Holland so they’ve had practice!). Roger and Prairie Prince (resplendent in a “Trump is a cunt” t-shirt – wonder who he’s voting for?) grab the musician’s limelight with their solo’s and persona but are expertly accompanied by Rick on bass and David on keyboards. Rick lends a hand with Fee’s wardrobe changes during the set as well as providing much needed balance for a certain Mr. Quay Lude. These are excellent musos at their peak!
Their theatrics are unsurprisingly scaled down but the immense Fee still dons a succession of costumes, transforming his persona and clothes from Zoot suit; Lunatic straight jacket, Venetian mask, Pill head, Johnny rocker, Gimp, Cowboy, Game show host, himself and the infamous Quay Lude to suit the songs. Fee’s certainly a born showman. For a band all in their mid-60’s they deliver a powerful 2 hour 20 minute set full of hits and omissions (e.g. TV is King, Don’t Touch me There, Prime Time).
Set List – I think?
- Overture
- You Never Can Tell (Chuck Berry)
Mondo Pulp 2016 UK tour - The Monkey Time
- Tip of My Tongue
- James Brown Medley
- Overture Reprise
- Mr. Hate
- Amnesia
- Turn Me On
- Golden Boy
- Gimme Dat Harp Boy (Captain Beefheart)
- Stella
- Mondo Bondage
- Why Can’t I Walk Away?
- What do You want from Life?
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Gene Pitney)
- Love’s a Mystery
- Tubes World Tour
- White Punks on Dope
Encore: - She’s a Beauty
- I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles)
- Talk to Ya Later
The band loves London and England (Fee repeats it frequently) – to be fair we adopted them when their native America were somewhat ambivalent. An eclectic audience of young, old and normal (surely some mistake -ed) are enthralled with the imagery and musical styles.
During No Way Out Fee dons a cardboard box (a TV with prison bars made from drug bottles) to deliver his message that the drug companies have taken over commercial TV advertising with cures for problems you never knew you had.
The whole audience is loving it and singing along. But we are all waiting for the great drugged-out, platform-booted Quay Lewd so we can exaltedly scream out ‘White Punks on Dope’ repeatedly. We are not let down, Quay appears in all his ‘glam’our long hair/mirror glasses/24” heels and false penis throbbing through his silver spandex trousers.
Highly entertaining, visually exciting and they still seem unique even after 44 odd years of excess. The Tubes should be declared a national treasure!
Thanks boys – a brilliant night.
Ps – my step daughter came along with me, she had never heard of you before, but she said she loved every single moment. A new fan is born.
Marko – 8 October 2016
Marko's Music Blog 