With Cherym
Kelvingrove Bandstand, 12 August 2025
A ‘blast’, no pun intended, from the past. 1977 to be exact. Along with The Clash, The Damned, The Sex Pistols, The Jam and other punk and ‘new wave’ bands who broke through around that time, they build up a considerable following of fans, not just in their native Northern Ireland.
Forty-eight years and counting. A hugely successful annual get together on St Patrick’s Day in The Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow. And after all this time I was finally going to see them. Not only that, but it was only in the couple of days prior to the gig I’d started to listen to some of their albums, notably the live album from the aforementioned Barrowland Ballroom.
And the overriding question was ….. Why had it taken me so long to listen and see them?
The ticket should also have came with a please note message along the lines of … The wearing of Stiff Litle Fingers t-shirts is mandatory.
The Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre holds around 2,500 during the Summer Sessions and looking over the heads of the audience, the majority had obviously read the memo.
To the music though.
Having never seen them before, there was a slight concern that maybe we had come to the wrong gig as ABBA tunes were belted out immediately before the headliners were due to come on. Obviously, a ruse to keep virgin attendees on their toes as the ‘regulars’ were singing and dancing without a care in the world.
From the moment they stepped onto the stage, plugged into their guitars or tapped on the drums, to the final hurrah at the end of Alternative Ulster, the energy levels of the band and audience rarely dropped below 95%.
We were welcomed with ‘Hello Glasgow, we’re the Stiff Little Fingers’ and it wouldn’t have been out of place to add ‘… and we’re going to make sure you have a great night’.
Yes there were a few instances when Jake introduced a few songs and what it meant to him when writing them, but in general, the set was littered with short sharp and poignant songs reflecting the punk ethos of the time when they first burst onto the scene, to the difficulties they and others faced during the ‘Troubles’ and to the here and now and what it means to have a world leader with just a little bit of history in the family that suggests there’s been a bit of wrong doing over the recent past.
Throw in songs about a hero of Jake’s, Joe Strummer, together with a heartfelt song about 50-year-old male depression and you can see that they haven’t rested on their 1970s laurels.
Three or four minute songs, the very occasional short and sweet guitar solo, a packed audience in raucous mood.
The set started with the electric Roots Radicals Rockers and Reggae, four words that defined the rest of the songs played on the night. Strummerville, My Dark Places, Tin Soldiers and Barbed Wire Love shone brightest amongst a host of great tracks.
Looking at the setlist from afar, you can see the influence of what life must have been like in Northern Ireland while they were growing up. How they coped. How songs were written, developed and recorded. How they were then lauded by fans of all persuasions is a testimony to the spirit the band can be proud of.
Is forty-eight years too late to get on the bandwagon? I hope not if this gig and the live album is anything to go by.
Support – Cherym
Hailing from Northern Ireland, Cherym displayed all the punk credentials that possibly helped them get the nod from Stiff Little Fingers in the first place. Short raspy songs with a couldn’t really give a damn attitude displayed when vocalist and guitar player Hannah had to depart the stage for some repairs.
I’m not sure too many of the Stiff Little Fingers veterans were overly impressed when being told to ‘get their act together’ while they were playing, however maybe that’s part of their own charisma.
