Undertones, Clearshot & Sirocco MCS

It’s the Gas Yard Feile open-air weekend and as usual the weather is not co-operating. It’s pelting down. Which is a shame because this must be one of the strongest displays of local talent ever to grace a Derry stage.

Pitifully few people arrive in time to hear opening act the Sirocco MC’s brighten the evening with their playful rhyming and colourful language. The same poor turnout prevails for Clearshot who are a goddamn pleasure to watch. Great shouty, stop-start, guitar-heavy songs performed by an impossibly tight band. Forthcoming single ‘Keep Her In A Box’ is a relentless rock onslaught that under other circumstances would’ve had an audience killing each other up front.

Thankfully by the time the Undertones kick into ‘Jimmy, Jimmy’ a respectable crowd has descended. From muddy kids to old punks, it would appear that the ‘Tones appeal disregards boundaries. As always the band sparkle – three-minute pop gems like ‘Get Over You’ and ‘My Perfect cousin’ are belted out in their purest splendour. ‘Here comes the summer’ would’ve been nod enough to irony without the stewards sweeping rainwater off the stage and ‘Male Model’ is dedicated to Fergal Sharkey and Alan Shearer for their birthdays. All the while Mickey Bradley is keeping up the between song banter – the self-deprecating asides lapped up by the Derry sense of humour.

When ‘Teenage kicks’ is played mid-set, Bradley warns the crowd not to head home. And indeed it would be unjust to think of the Undertones in terms of that song alone. Tonight 20 tracks were played in little over an hour and few of them couldn’t stand up to comparison with ‘Teenage Kicks’ brilliance.

When the Undertones reformed 2 years ago, many held reservations about whether they could still cut the mustard. They needn’t have worried – this is a band that could teach today’s upstarts a thing or two. And with John O’Neill current writing new material, maybe we won’t have to wait too long to see just that.