Live Review: Wire / Graham Duff – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK, 31st January 2020

Mind Hive, Wire’s recent album release and their 17^th studio album, continues to push the boundaries of what defines punk / post punk. Back in 1977 Wire were loved by the punks, delivering plenty of one/two/three minute songs full of energy, noise and melody on their debut “Pink Flag“. A year later “Chairs Missing” brought longer, ‘artier’ songs and a synth. Since those days Wire have consistently delivered albums that have been adventurous and left people wondering what they will do next. “Mind Hive” follows the fantastic “Silver/Lead” and in many parts is more rocky with plenty of menacing soundscapes and even includes an epic 7+ minute song – ‘Hung’. \

And so it is with their live set. You never quite know what to expect at a Wire gig. Well known for staying clear of their classic ‘hits’ from back in the day and for splitting crowds down the middle between those who come just to hear “old stuff”, those (often younger) who love the recent stuff and those who have followed the band for 44 years and for whom Wire can do no wrong. Tonight is no different. The Brudenell has been sold out for some time and there’s a complete cross section of punters present. A young lad, no older than 17/18, is asking Graham Lewis to save him a set list before the first note has been struck while later there are those shouting for 12XU – greeted with a disdainful look and a “not a chance” from Colin Newman. But Wire do deliver a set that many who have seen them on this tour up to now are regarding as brilliant. 

Spanning the whole 44 years of their career tonight isn’t dominated by the new album but does take us back to those early days with the driving spikey guitars of ‘Ex-Lion Tamer’ from Pink Flag, the delicate guitar pop of ‘Outdoor Miner’, the quieter, more delicate bass driven ‘French Film Blurred’ from ‘78’s “Chairs Missing“. The vocals of Graham Lewis top a perfect, haunting ‘I Should Have Known Better’ whilst Matthew Simms drags intensely sharp sounds out of his guitar on ‘A Touching Display’. Wire are not a band you go and see if you want to jump around in a party atmosphere. You go to see Wire to listen and appreciate the sheer scope and inventiveness of their output over the years.

There’s little posturing, perhaps just a tiny bit from Lewis whilst Newman occasionally crouches to get a bit more out of his guitar, Simms kneeling every so often to squeeze out another unique sound by twisting one of the huge array of effects pedals/dials to his guitar. Meanwhile, drummer Robert Grey spends most of the set knocking out the beats with his eyes shut. There’s a little smiling and a knowing grin between Grey and Simms when what seems like a minor debate about the sound takes place between Lewis and Newman. Stood at the front the sound seems fine to these ears but later reports from those at the back say it improved a lot as the night progressed.

Wire don’t need to pose or act like rock stars. They do what they do for themselves and people appreciate it. Moving through their impressively large output ‘It’s A Boy’ ‘German Shepherds’ the graceful ‘Morning Bell’ and 90’s beat of ‘Patterns Of Behaviour’ cover a period when Wire remained one of the few great bands during a time of mass musical blandness.  Bringing things bang up to date Wire do dip into “Mind Hive“. They opened with ‘Be Like Them’, full of stabbing drums and vicious guitars. This, together with lead single ‘Cactused’ – full of infectious strumming and poppy chorus, the pulsating ‘Primed and Ready’, the frankly menacing ‘Oklahoma’ where Newman sings “I admire your sexy hearse. You could tell I was dying” and the epic ‘Hung’ divide tonight’s set neatly into 4 parts. Never predictable, always fresh and looking for something new, Wire have been copied, but never matched, by many. It’s over too quickly. Roll on the next time.

And let’s not forget Graham Duff, writer, actor, producer who opened tonight. Unusual, but not unheard of, to see a ‘rock’ show opened by someone reading sections from their book. Duff knows a lot of people in the music industry & has tales to tell, especially from a specific 15 gigs he’s seen over the years. Drinking with Mark E Smith, Joy Division concerts, how he saw the Velvet Underground and thought they were terrible but couldn’t force himself to leave because .. well because he was watching the Velvet Underground. Reading from ‘Foreground Music. A Life In Fifteen Gigs’ Duff is appreciated by all present. There’s no copies left on the merch stall so I head online after the gig to grab a copy. Duff is making a documentary about Wire. Hopefully it won’t be long before funds are raised & the project is completed.

Photography by Steve White. You can visit Steve White‘s Flickr site here and you can click on any of the photos to view a slide show of the images.

Wire‘s website can be found here & Graham Duff‘s is here