Wednesday 15/03/06 The Dead 60s, The Rifles @ Academy 2, Manchester

So tonight we bear witness to the Jam followed by The Clash. Oops, sorry The Rifles (Eton presumably) and then headlining act Dead 60’s.The Rifles play jerky spiky post-punk pop. Does more need to be said? The crowd scream and applaud after each song and then stand there with their arms folded whilst the band chuck out the riffs. Only indie (or whatever you want to call it) can elicit such a frigging boring response. In no other form of music do the audience stand rooted to the spot. NO OTHER. Will this ever change? For chrissakes, people even dance on Last Night of the frigging Proms

The Dead 60s arrive to a truly thunderous roar from the crowd and… air raid sirens. Wonderful- every band should come on this way and we’re almost excited. Under neon haze and smoke, they rip straight into a… jerky spiky post-punk kind of number. But with a difference. Except it’s hard to tell what that difference is. The lead guitarist actually looks like he could drop dead at any moment (he doesn’t by the way). 15 minutes in, they throw a curve by flipping into dub reggae mode a la 'Riot Radio' and 'Ghostfaced', which genuinely surprises and then bores after a few minutes when we remember The Clash dong the same thing but within a specific political and social context that was uniquely relevant to the time.

There’s nothing wrong (and its impossible not to) with stealing from the past but when it becomes just imitation, the experience becomes strangely hollow. For an indie band to flag up reggae in 2005 and into 2006 is kind of bizarre- should it not be garage or grime. The band certainly have energy and enthusiasm and they can sure as hell play, but in the end, this is nowhere near enough to make for an enjoyable gig.