The Stranglers, live at the Roundhouse, London

Surely this should not be happening. Here I am in the corridor on level two in the Roundhouse in London, watching the crowd leaving The Stranglers gig and I observe something I haven’t seen in a long, long time: EVERYONE IS SMILING!

It’s weird to think that I have seen this band in four different decades. In fact, The Stranglers are a couple of years older than Hot Press – which means that they are heading on for 40. I have seen bands of the same era live that are merely going through the motions just to earn the cash. Indeed The Undertones are among the few that both look like they are enjoying it – and actually sound better now than they did back in the day!

Looking back to the opening ‘Waltzinblack’ intro, there was something different in the air – after 17 albums and 23 hit singles, you think that The Stranglers have nothing to prove? Wrong! They hit the stage with the same gusto as they did back in ‘74 under the Guildford Stranglers moniker.

I saw them in Dublin Academy in 2008 and the chemistry on the night between Hugh Cornwall’s replacement Baz Warne and bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel was damn good. Tonight, however, they take it to a different level, confirming that they are indeed a band on a mission. There is Stranglers Version 1.0 with Hugh and Stranglers Version 2.0 with Baz – right now, I am leaning in favour of the latter.

They opened with ‘Toiler On The Sea’, ‘Goodbye Toulouse’ and ‘(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)’ in a Ramones-like flurry, without a word in-between songs. From there on, the way the band interspersed the old songs with the new was flawless. The set was eclectic, eccentric and electrically exhilarating by turn.

To play the outrageous ‘Bring On The Nubiles’ just before ‘Duchess’ was a wonderful touch; keyboardist Dave Greenfield’s mastery on the later, utilising three keyboards (with the legend ‘Dave – Says – Relax’ inscribed on each one) was topped off with a Jimi Hendrix style piece of one-upmanship, as he polished off the song by playing two keyboards with one hand, whilst downing a pint with the other.

The biggest cheer of the night came two-thirds of the way through, when the legendary drummer Jet Black (age 74 and recently in bad health) came on for ‘Genetix’ and saw out the rest of the gig. Then with two drumkits on the stage, he played a massive secomd encore of ‘Tank’ alongside his stand in.

They played all the hits, including a cheeky version of ‘Golden Brown’ with changed verses, which may have been a legal thing with Hugh or just joking to wind him up. The crowd – a mosh pit from the start – went crazy for the first encore of ‘Something Better Change’ and ‘No More Heroes’, followed by a second encore of ‘Tank’.

Which brings me back full circle to the smiling faces at the end. The Stranglers still play each gig like it’s the most important gig ever! It is, definitively, the way to do it. Long may they run...