Bad Religion / UK Subs – University Students Union, Newcastle, UK, 5th June 2022

Having entered the Punk Rock fray a whole 42 years ago, Bad Religion have been and still are among the heavy hitters on the scene, a band that still influences, a band that still holds court with the best every time they hit the stage.  A back catalogue that deserves reverence, a swath of lyrical uppercuts, jabs that take on religious, political and humanitarian issues or anything that requires calling out, are laid bare for your perusal.  I’ve always felt that the name of the game for Bad Religion (rightly or wrongly) is 75%+ the message and the musical accompaniment fills the gap.

So to finally after 2 long years of pandemic and at a time when war rages to the east, the 40th anniversary tour has hit my region of the UK, Newcastle to be more precise.  I grab my camera, head for the train station on a Sunday afternoon and now the excitement builds.

After a pleasant journey up, and a few alcoholic refreshments to aid help relax the mind, we make our way to the hotel that will keep us warm and allow for much needed sleep later on in the evening, check in went smoothly, but the young girl who allocated our room was totally unaware that consigning us to “Room 101” was both funny and scary all at the same time.

Off to the gig, via a few establishments for more refreshment and food.  Bob Trollop’s 1st, for Pie and Mash and beer of course.  A bit of history here, not 100% sure, but I think the name actually derives from Robert Trollope the 17th century architect who’s epitaph is one of my favourites ever 

“Here lies Robert Trollop, Who made yon stones roll up, When death took his soul up, His body filled this hole up”

Anyway let’s get to the gig finally, well after one more pub maybe, in which we met Paul from Banbury, who had caught Bad Religion in both London and Manchester prior to this gig.  So making it to the venue a little late, jumping the huge queue outside with a lot of persuasion on my behalf to the wonderful doorman, the UK Subs are just setting off into the first song as I entered.  This was a Subs that were totally lapping up the atmosphere of the Newcastle University Students Union venue, Charlie Harper at 78 took us all the way back to 77 (or 79 for me, the 1st time if caught them), Alvin Gibbs was on fire and smiling from ear to ear throughout, Steve Straughan who was playing to his local crowd here (being from Sunderland) and the latest addition of Magic Dave on drums just blew a packed audience away.  Songs like Warhead, Party In Paris and Rockers gave a chill down the spine, a throw back to the early days and all performed amazingly.

Now to the main event, a few beers on from earlier, it’s time for Bad Religion to hit the stage, the lights dim, the crowd kick into the usual but maybe even heavier cheers, people from around the country and beyond have been looking forward to this moment.  ‘Generator’ is the opener, and what an opener! The crowd singing along is hugely noticeable.  This band evoke a sense of lyrical greatness where ever they go and this gig is no exception.

I’d normally pick out individually performances at this point, but that would be difficult to do in this case, every member including Jay Bentley, Mike Dimkich, Brian Baker, Jamie Miller and of course Greg Gaffin contributed their all to this event. The fact that this is or isn’t possibly their last tour ever, will and was totally forgotten on this night, the energy and commitment the band was giving, filtered totally into how the audience interacted and became a part of the whole night, fevered love for the songs and messages given by them was palpable.

A set, that I hope I won’t stand corrected on, had no less than 27 songs in it, from the sublime New Dark Ages to the brilliant Punk Rock Song, then there was Suffer, Come Join Us, Fuck You, every single song sung right back at them by the crowd.  By the time we were over half way through (which might have been the end for most bands) the energy given off by the band was still building, so as you can imagine, getting to the encore and coming out to American Jesus was just the blue touch paper for the already sweat drenched beer fuelled audience, a full on mosh fest ensued.  If there was any negative from this gig, it would only be that the vocal sound quality was a bit muddy, but this is merely a personal thing, the audience definitely made up the difference.

If you haven’t managed to catch Bad Religion on the tour and are maybe wondering should I, well there is still hope, Rebellion Festival is possibly the only one left that isn’t sold out (for now), so get on it people, you won’t regret it.

For all photos from this special night, check out my galleries UK Subs Bad Religion