Punk All Dayer, Glasgow review: 'Teenage kicks still hard to beat'

Punk All Dayer, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow ★★★

This year's Glasgow Summer Sessions kicked off with an all day fiesta for the OAPs (old age punks). Opening acts The Rezillos and The Skids, two of Scotland’s finest punk/new wave outfits, were also the only veterans of the day to be performing with their original vocalists, although current Buzzcocks frontman Steve Diggle could at least flaunt his long-service status with a band particularly beloved of Glasgow’s indie fraternity. Diggle and co wrangled a 45-minute set of two-minute, three-chord wonders, with enough time spare to jam the life out of Harmony in My Head.

Frank Carter and the Sex Pistols in Glasgow

The Undertones also raided some dusty corners of their back catalogue but did so with a degree more charm, fuelled by bassist Michael Bradley’s comic asides. Vocalist Paul McLoone brought an operatic edge whenever there was latitude to hold a note and Teenage Kicks, as it turned out, was still hard to beat.

Gnarly rockers The Stranglers, with sole original member JJ Burnel on bass, were workmanlike in places but those signature quasi-baroque keyboards elevated the set, not least on the ever stylish Golden Brown and No More Heroes, with lyrics updated to include Beach Boy Brian Wilson.

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Headliners The Sex Pistols – or Frank Carter & the Sex Pistols as they must go these days – arrived on stage with by far the slimmest catalogue on the bill and a new frontman with arguably the hardest job of the day.

Carter did everything right – rousing the crowd, respecting the legacy – yet still there was a John Lydon-shaped hole in proceedings. But the crowd came to party as much as pogo and the snarled soundtrack, from Holidays in the Sun to EMI, was there for the moshing.

Carter brought his crooner chops to My Way, a cover of The Stooges’ No Fun was jammed out at length and even Anarchy in the UK was partially extended with a drum breakdown to fill out an hour.

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