Energetic veterans of the stage prove that age is no barrier

Published on Monday 29 September 2008 09:59

Spear of Destiny and TV-21 *** Cabaret Voltaire IT was a welcome blast from the past at Cabaret Voltaire on Sunday night as two bands best known for having their heydays in the 1980s found themselves on the same bill.

Formed in 1979, Edinburgh group TV21 gained something of a cult following at the start of the 80s, both headlining their own tours and acting as support for more established bands such as The Jam and The Undertones. Following a gig supporting the Rolling Stones at the Edinburgh Playhouse in 1982 the band quit the music scene, only to reappear three years ago.

While the group may getting older they showed no visible signs of slowing down, energy pulsating from the small stage as songs such as When Cole Was King and Forever 22 were performed. The chorus of How'd You Get It So Wrong encouraged audience members to join in, while the slow introduction to Look to the Sun gave way to a rousing rendition of the guitar-laden song.

Renowned for their live sets since they formed in 1983 – at one point they supported U2 at Wembley – Spear of Destiny continued to impress. While the confines of Cab Vol might not quite be on the scale of past glories, this wasn't about to stop them trying to better them, with versions of Radio Radio, Strangers in Our Town and Berlin Berlin offering up a welcome taste of what was to follow.

Mixing the melodic with the anthemic, Spear segued from song to song with ease, guitars and keyboard making many choruses soar, vocals managing to remain audible against a sound system that coped admirably with the varying tempos.

As each song played out the crowd got more involved, with Prisoner of Love and Lucky Man leading to a small amount of movement near the start of the set and Mickey and Liberator ending the night with much spilling of pints as arms waved and old favourites were sung along to.

With sets that would put many younger bands to shame with their sheer vigour, both acts proved that age is no barrier to success.