Friday 12/11/04 Icons of Poundland, Valerie, Flamingo 50 @ Star & Garter, Manchester

So another charity event (Campaign Against Depleted Uranuim) , but be honest, who attended the event to support the cause, as opposed to those who turned up to see 3 stalwarts of the northwest gig scene? First up are Icons, now an all too seldom experience due to minor difficulties such as band members living at opposite ends of the country. The spiky fretwork of Julian Loafer and Kester overlay the caustic, at times acerbic lyrics in a tuneful, sparkling, performance. Aggression pours from the speakers, without even a hint of physical violence. A constantly revised set list realises an always different performance, so having dispensed with a truncated rendition of traditional set closer a faux Greek style 'Billy Slagg' mid way through the set, allows 'House Doubles' brings down the curtain.

Quickly following on is the joyous shamble known as Valerie. Strangely enough, the only verse (yes verse, not song) that the triumvirate of Josie (vocal), Vicki (bass) & Elvis (drum) have actually practiced together sounds pretty decent. Professionalism and Valerie are not two words normally used in the same sentence, but the disparate collection of songs, and importantly visuals, allows for a different kind of entertainment. Their die hard followers look forward to seeing Josie bounce around the stage, knock things over, whilst Elvis first stands there, hitting ONE drum before going walkabout
into the audience with same drum.

Sheer exuberance and a sense of fun punctuate the "set" if it can be called that. A solo rendition of 30 seconds from 'Teenage Kicks' played on the single string of Vicki’s bass turns the crowd silent in attention, before resulting in a rousing round of cheers.

From the end of the M62 are Flamingo 50, blasting like the engines of a 747 plane at takeoff, crushing any embers of wimpishness and sensibility. Most people secretly have a Motorhead favourite song (Mines’ the Ace of Spades) and Louise rocks with the style of Lemmy, snarling upwards into the microphone, adopting the cock rock, splayed legs guitar pose perfectly. Now what was that cause for?

Photos by Ged Camera