Brighton, Concorde 2, 23rd February 2003
Pictures and review by Steve Short
Encouraged to see them by a friend who saw the gig in London a few weeks ago, I went with limited expectations to the Concorde 2 in Brighton. After all, how could the newly reformed Rezillos possibly be anything but a pale shadow of the band that over twenty years ago, as an opening act, famously scared the Ramones with their energy and crowd appeal?
Shortly after 10pm the band came onstage. From the opening song there was no doubt that the band was as tight and powerful as ever and, despite being twenty years older, there was no shortage of energy. Angel Patterson's drumming was powerful and accurate; Jo Callis effortlessly created the classic Rezillos wall of noise guitar sound; and the newly recruited bass player did a solid job of holding the two together. As for Fay and Eugene - you'd have thought that they might have grown up during the twenty-three years since the band split up but you'd be wrong. They still appear to be as mentally deranged as they need to be to do justice to songs like Bad Guy Reaction, My Baby Does Good Sculptures, and Flying Saucer Attack.
Reformed bands, especially ones that have been inactive for as long as the Rezillos, usually struggle to come up with worthwhile new material. Happily, the Rezillos haven't fallen at this hurdle either - while the new material is different from the old, songs such as No. 1 Boy are unmistakably the Rezillos we know and love. Thankfully though, the band didn't neglect their classic material such as Destination Venus and Cold Wars. Very little was left out of the set with perhaps only Mystery Action being conspicuous by its absence.
The 45 minute set was over too soon but we all knew that they were good for an encore or two. The fans weren't content with that and eventually the band returned for a third. It's a little awe inspiring to see a band performing like this so long after they split. They didn't really have to do much to satisfy the forty-somethings who were fans first time around as we'd forgive them for being older and slower but it's not in the band's nature. They belted out every song like it was the last time they'd ever play it and in the process undoubtedly made some new fans amongst younger generation at the front of the stage.
Steve Short