The Blockheads: Live In Birmingham

This was my first visit to The Crossing, in the Digbeth area of Birmingham, just south of the Bullring. Parking was plentiful, the venue was easy to find and the door staff were very friendly. Got there just as the support band, Hardwicke Circus from Carlisle, were finishing their set. I was impressed with what I heard and would have seen more, but traffic and roadworks had other ideas.

The Blockheads started their set dead on time, with the band members Micky, Chaz, John Roberts, John Turnbull, Dave & Nathan all taking their places and starting to play before front man Mike Bennett strutted onto the stage, looking full of bravado and arrogance as ever, with a big shout of “Oi Oi”, to which the audience responded excitedly. The set started with Wake up And Make Love With Me, the lyrics of which I’ve always adored. I counted fifteen songs in all, with my personal favourites being Clever Trevor, There Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards (the best B side ever), Itinerate Child, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, I Wanna Be Straight, What A Waste, Reasons To Be Cheerful and of course Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, all delivered with aplomb.  What I really enjoyed was how the band would break into spontaneous jams, to create new and extended versions of various songs. Mike Bennett took full advantage of these breaks in the vocals to switch between glaring at people towards the front, as if inviting them to come and have a go, to smiling charmingly. He is clearly enjoying his time with the Blockheads and indeed every member looked to be having the time of their lives. Good to see the enthusiasm is still there after all these years.

It was all over way too quickly, with a rousing encore of the song Blockheads to end proceedings. There are only a handful of gigs left on the schedule in 2023, so I highly recommend you do a quick Google search of where these are and get yourselves along.