My 2025 year of gigs has started with the earliest first show in the calendar since 2008. Two under the belt and three more to come before the end of February is a strong start and we could be into personal best territory by the time the year is done.
Not only was it an early start, it was a unique and memorable one – The Coverups at O2 Academy Islington. Why did we take a 6 hour + round trip to see a covers band? Well, because they’re comprised of Billie Joe Armstrong and members of the Green Day touring / recording crew.
It goes without saying that it was surreal to see Billie playing a set of his own favourite songs in a 800 capacity venue.
It was also quite nostalgic. Around the same time we were getting into Green Day we were educating ourselves on decades of music via Poole Library’s CD rental selection. Illegal downloads were a thing at this time, but reliable internet connectivity was not.
Nor were the plethora of playlists available on streaming sites today. You were staring at a blank page when you opened Napster and the like. Compilations were a great entry point to the genres we were starting to explore.
The selection of songs The Coverups played (setlist here), seminal 70s and 80s punk tracks from bands that are safe, household names today, but moral panic inducing 50 years ago*, reminded me of one compilation in particular.
I couldn’t remember the name, but a bit of Google sleuthing after the show quickly led me to it, and what a time capsule it is. A sort of double layered one. Not just a snapshot of the time the songs were first released, but the time this compilation was also.
‘Punk – The Jubilee’. Released in 2002 as a cheeky tie in to the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. I would’ve been far more interested in this than the souvenir mug we received at school.
*It’s not lost on me in my casual “50 years” remark that my entry point was around the halfway mark…
Two nights later I was at The Joiners in Southampton to see The Early November, my third time seeing them there and my fifth time overall. Some people may never get to see their favourite band live (I’ve got many that I’m yet to!) let alone five times.
The missing detail here, they’re not even a favourite band of mine. These trips have been for my partner Sam, who listened to them during their original run in the early 2000s. I have enjoyed some of their more recent material but this was an album show for their 2003 release The Room’s Too Cold.
They were brilliant, as they have been on previous occasions, I really enjoyed their set and opener Mark Rose from the band Spitalfield. I don’t know any of the latter band’s material other than It’s Cold Out There a song from an alternative Christmas compilation. It’s definitely festive but I think you could still enjoy it in January (or February).
I’d go so far to say this is one of my favourite ‘Christmas’ songs, I don’t play it outside of December and look forward to it each time the month rolls around again. This show was probably my one and only chance to ever hear it live…
At the 11th hour I dropped Mark a message with the request (we might well call it a plea). I don’t know if he received the email, but he didn’t play it. I debated calling out for it, The Joiners is small, he would’ve heard me but there was a much louder, legitimate fan shouting for another track and I thought better than to compete.
Alas, opportunity missed. I guess the acoustic rendition may not have worked for me. At least this way the song remains as it’s always been in my mind and ears. Like untouched snow.
Liam Toms 