Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 28th November @ Badlands, Perth WA

Posted on November 30, 2017 by walladmin

Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg
Badlands, Perth WA
November 28th, 2017
Support: The Shakeys

Everything I know about the Ramones is thanks to movies, quite literally I know them as the guys who sing the song for Pet Sematary and that they wrote the song The Offspring sing in Idle Hands and they have that song in Spiderman (no not the Spiderman theme song, that other one), so it came as a massive shock when I realized three hours before the show I actually agreed to review Marky Ramone and not photograph the show like I normally do.

Arriving at Badlands I was reaching anxiety overload so my +1 bought me a drink to calm the nerves and I found The Shakeys by the bar. “I know you play songs but I don’t know what they’re called” was my way of telling them that I wanted a copy of their setlist. It’s not that I’m an ignorant person, it’s just that I suck at knowing song titles.

The room was easily half filled by the time Perth band The Shakeys hit the stage with two ladies right up the front amongst the photographers. Most were standing around the railing or in the seating areas claiming their spots ready for Marky later. Starting the night with songs ‘Don’t Make Me Crawl‘ and ‘Pink Demon‘, singer Claire Hodgson then asks the crowd “Are we all excited for Marky Ramone?” Crickets chirped. Unimpressed by the lack of response they ask the crowd again and finally the audience shows they are alive and well. After a bit of a technical glitch they got back into it with a cover of Dead Boy’s ‘Meat In Your Mouth’. ‘Hometown’ had (from where I was standing) the crowd applauding and cheering the loudest. This was followed with covers of ‘Zooed Out’ by The Testors which came with a bit of a history lesson on the band and The Heartbreakers ‘Born To Lose’. As the band announced they had only a couple of songs left, a guy by the bar was heard saying “awe no” so clearly this band made a good impression! The only downfall with The Shakeys, especially for anyone there who hadn’t seen the band before, was the fact they were crammed up the front of the stage so guitarist Jason who is generally pretty energetic was more like a caged chicken.

Marky Ramone and band came out and got right into it with ‘Rockabilly Beach‘. Not taking photos makes you more observant about what’s happening around you and the crowd were loving it singing, dancing and jumping around. Bro hugs were had. There were a sea of phones in their air recording and I had a laugh at how many of them were older men, so it’s not just a young person thing! One guy was so into the concert his arm was jumping around while recording, his arm flailing about, and I was cringing at just thinking about how that footage will look later. The Blair Witch Project will look like a cinematic masterpiece by comparison.

The band played all the classics ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend’ and the one I know, ‘Pet Sematary’ before leaving the stage. The crowd chanted ‘HEY HO! LET’S GO!” over and over until the band came out again and were straight back into it with a couple more songs. A couple of girls at the front of the stage were stroking frontman Iñaki Urbizu Azaceta‘s boot as he sang taking selfies. Not weird at all. Then they left the stage once more. Repeat chanting and the band was back out to finish the night with ‘California Sun’ which as it turns out I know this song as well…thanks to Annette Funicello (Back to the Beach), ‘Have You Seen The Rain‘ and ‘Wonderful Road‘. Their best song ‘Blitzkrieg Bop‘ was left for last. As soon as the song was over the band left the stage for the final time.

The band put on a great show and I thankfully enjoyed it more than what I listened to on YouTube earlier in the day. The band never missed a beat between songs, it was just one song after another, but having to hear bassist Alejandro Viejo yell “1,2,3,4” before EVERY SINGLE SONG was seriously fucking annoying, especially when the set list is about 30 songs long. Iñaki had enough stage presence for the entire band and engaged with the audience but there was no banter between songs or even between sets. Not even a ‘Thank You” at the end of the show. One guy rushed to the side of the stage pushing into me, yelling out to Marky with his hand stretch out trying to get a high five and was snubbed twice. Nobody even looked at him. Maybe I’m just spoiled with the Australian music scene being so warm and friendly but it seemed a tad snobbish.

Review by Kim Anderson

Revisit Marky Ramone co-hosting Wall of Sound: Up Against The Wall Episode 20 here

Review and Photo Gallery by Denis Radacic. Please credit Den Rad and Wall of Sound if you reuse.

The Shakeys