I love live music and I love ska from my childhood. When I found out that 90’s British ska legends [Spunge] were playing at The Railway in Winchester, I had a rush of sentimentality and the desperate urge to call up all my old school friends and convince them to fork out the £11 for a ticket.

Unfortunately, I am not in contact with any of my old school friends so I had to settle for convincing all of my uni friends into forking out £11 for a band they’ve never even heard of, or knew little about. Everyone who had heard of [Spunge] merely knew them as “that band who did ‘Kicking Pigeons?’” It actually turned out to be rather easy to convince people to come to the show. And what a show it turned out to be…

Honestly, the first act were a disappointment. The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels had been hyped up by my friend Evil Mark as “awesome”. He’d described them to me as a “proper raw punk band who’ve just come off the streets.” That would be fine if I liked that kind of thing. As it turns out they’re a band made up of simple chords, angry shouts, a vast array of ‘f*** the system’ songs and a whole load of repeated lyrics. The lead singer had energy and tried to get the crowd moving but that kind of thing only works if the music is up to the task. Their music wasn’t.

So, feeling a little dejected, I bought myself a lot of beer and watched as the magic of ska finally began to unfold. The two bands between Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and [Spunge] were quite similar. New Riot and Mash Attack both have great blends of ska, punk, blues, and reggae. They utilised their brass instruments well and were definitely a welcome reprieve from the decisive anger of the first band; happy, bouncing tunes succeeding in getting the crowd dancing and chanting along. The show was beginning to liven up and I was getting amongst everyone dancing away. The key here though was to save my energy for the main act, the band that I knew would cause the room to explode in a frenzy of movement.

The whole time that I was waiting in anticipation for [Spunge], I was praying that the crowd would greet them with the respect they deserved. I was not disappointed at all. As the three men stepped up onto the stage, they were met with fierce shouts, applause, and a wave of hands in the air saluting the legends of ska. And then the music began…

I have to be honest here, I can only recall a few songs that [Spunge] played. The rush of people, the sheer energy exerted during every song and the consumption of alcohol has fogged my memory a little. Sometimes, however, you don’t need to remember the songs to remember that it was an incredible show. Every song, with a mixture of upbeat ska and energetic punk, kept the crowd on their toes. It was a violent display of fan appreciation within the pit, but not so violent that people left you on the ground if you fell (I was picked up a number of times), and the lead singer had a great rapport with everyone; holding his own against the light-hearted banter of hecklers, asking what songs we all wanted to hear and generally just conversing with the crowd between songs. The highlights of their set were definitely when everybody sang ‘Kicking Pigeons’, and the sheer beauty of their cover of Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’. I left the show, sweating, breathing heavily, dizzy and utterly satisfied.

So, although I don’t remember most of [Spunge]’s songs, I believe that it’s many other things that make a great live show. A cosy venue, great rapport between fans and band, and a great crowd are, for me, what can make or break a gig whether or not the band is good. The [Spunge] show had all of those things and more, I’m just still finding it hard to believe that it’s the first time I’ve ever seen them live. Well worth the wait though, and I recommend checking them out or dusting off your old ‘Kicking Pigeons’ EP just to remind yourself that British ska is not dead at all…