Spear Of Destiny 31/05/18- Sub 89 Sunny Reading.

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Greatkudu
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Spear Of Destiny 31/05/18- Sub 89 Sunny Reading.

Post by Greatkudu »

Spear of Destiny formed in 1983 after the break up of "Theatre Of Hate",Spear achieved quite a bit of commercial success in eighties,but that has long

since gone,the whole music scene in the charts reflects one genre of music,so you have bands like Spear of Destiny still releasing high quality albums

and constant touring,Kirk also tours with his old band Theatre of Hate and also acoustically with Sam Sansbury on Cello (a busy man) what makes this

all the more remarkable is Kirk nearly died in 2012 with hear trouble and he has had bad luck with health over the years which stopped Spear becoming

a mega band,but that was probably good for their creativity,Moving on I last saw Spear a few years ago,they are my second fave band along with Theatre of Hate,Damned and Buzzcocks.

On a very warm Wednesday night at Sub 89 in Reading they delivered the goods as usual,I last went to Sub 89 when The Stranglers played their and it

was rammed fool and like a sweat bath,sadly the gig was not a sell out but still a good turn out for a band who are criminally under valued in the modern day music scene.

There was still a good size crowd though of hardcore Fans.They came in at 20.30 and played "Brighton" the first track from the excellent new album

"Tontine" title of which comes from a money scheme in 1700 century France where people payed in to a scheme and the last to die got all the money

happy stuff,But Kirk Brandon leader of Spear has a dark sense of humour,bit If you meet him he is so chirpy,lovely bloke.

Moving on the set featured around 6 songs from the new album and also featured heavily from "Grapes Of Wrath" the first album back in 1983,other

songs were seminal faves like "World Service" and "Liberator" and in the encore we even had "King of kings" from Kirk's first band the Pack.

Another song which is one of my faves was "The Hop" from "Theatre of Hate" original had Billy Duffy on Guitar who went on to play in "The Cult".

I must mention Kirks band its like a Punk Goth supergroup,you have Craig Adams on bass ex Cult and Sisters of Mercy,Adrian Portas on guitar ex New

model army,Drummer is Mike Martini don't know much about him but a fine drummer,Kirk always seems to find high class drummers.Chris Bell

Hugh's ex drummer is currently in Theatre Of Hate,and keyboard player was Steve Allen Jones who has worked with Kirk for quite a time.

To sum up,I urge you to see Kirk and his various bands,the man is a total legend,His voice is truely stunning,it has changed over the years more

raspy but is still a joy to behold,plus he has a great stage presence and is a fine guitar player to,just great the way Kirk and Adrian Portas bounce

off each other,both playing lead in some songs and rhythm.

They finished after all encores at around 21.55,not the longest set,but no one felt short changed,the power and passion of Kirk Brandon is something

to behold,loved the new songs to,great to have a band confident in their new material.Sound was very good to,Kirks voice well up in the mix.The last song in encore was "Liberator" a hit back in the day and that was the spark for some pretty crazy moshing in the small venue,big bloke in front
of me with a beard seemed possessed by the power of the music,a teenage girl standing next to me looked terrified,oh well thats life.

Only negative points a few people who just want to fucking talk all fucking night (Baz is inspiring me) and a few idiots shouting out when Kirk was

explaining the stories of some of the songs from the new album,Kirk was talking about his dad being in paratroopers just after the second world war

and how there was no record of what he did,someone shouted out "What did he do"-Kirk Replied "He Killed People" very funny I thought.

Really enjoyable gig from a great band who are still making great new music and play high quality gigs.Capt Kudu signing off,over and out.
Arthur Streeb-Greebling
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Re: Spear Of Destiny 31/05/18- Sub 89 Sunny Reading.

Post by Arthur Streeb-Greebling »

Another band I need to listen to more, well overdue a listen as its 20 years since I last saw/heard them. They were supporting Hugh at the Leeds Irish Centre back in '97/98 and I was quite impressed with their performance and the fans 'Mad Moshing'.
I only really know that single - 'Never Take Me Alive'? which for some reason stuck in me head long enough for me to work it out on guitar. Which was nice. Craig Adams, from Otley up ere in Yorkshire I believe? he's been in so many well known bands has that dude - Sisters, Mission, Cult, Alarm, Spear etc, certainly keeps busy!
Cheers.
Greatkudu
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Joined: 12 May 2010, 09:58

Re: Spear Of Destiny 31/05/18- Sub 89 Sunny Reading.

Post by Greatkudu »

Yes I do recommend them,constantly doing very good gigs and releasing albums every 3 to 4 years.Great back catalogue to.And of course the amazing

voice of Mr Brandon,he has been through the wars over the years,but seems happy these day's which is great.
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