Live Review: The Bronx @ Mama Roux’s, Birmingham, UK, 17th January 2018
Artist: The Bronx
Venue: Mama Roux’s, Birmingham, UK
Date: 17th January 2018
Rating: 9.0/10
If you’re anything like WWPSM, you dream of chaotic punk shows; the kind of gigs where there’s a blurred line between band and audience, where there’s constant circle pits, stage diving and the band’s singer spends the majority of the show engulfed by the swirling vortex of sweaty bodies on the venue’s dancefloor. Well, fucking pinch us because we lived the dream on 17th January at Mama Roux’s in Birmingham courtesy of LA punks, The Bronx. The five piece have evaded our grasp for many years but finally we got to see them up close and personal and suffice to say, the wait, no matter how long, was worth it.
The Bronx hit Birmingham as part of a short jaunt around the UK, bringing their new, fifth self-titled record in tow, to play it in its entirety amongst some of their other punk smashers. Wasting absolutely no time, vocalist and cheer chaos-influencer (is that a real thing? If not, it should be!) Matt Caughthran abandons Mama Roux’s modest stage to become the nucleus of the venue’s dancefloor – instigating a New Years’ Eve countdown before launching into ‘V’s opening track ‘Night Drop At The Glue Factory’ and as soon as the band kick into action and Caughthran screams “a new year! A new me!” it’s wall to wall bedlam. Caughthran will pretty much remain in the embrace of his adoring fans for the rest of The Bronx’s one hour and twenty-minute set, with the occasional sighting on the venue’s stage, presumably for a little respite before diving right back into the mayhem he’s helped to provoke. ‘V’ is delivered in order and at a breathless pace; each song hitting harder and faster than on record. The gamble with rattling out a new album in full, given ‘V’ was dropped in September, is that will fans warm to the new songs, after all, music fans are a fickle bunch – who wants to hear new songs these days? Well, fuck that shit, ‘V’s material is welcomed with open arms with the likes of ‘Stranger Danger, ‘Fill The Tanks’ and ‘Broken Arrow’ in-particular igniting some frantic scenes with The Bronx frontman permanently installed as the chief troublemaker.
‘Kingsize’, The final track from ‘V’ dials down the madness for a brief moment, as The Bronx lean towards the rock ‘n’ roll end of their spectrum but as it chimes to its finale – Caughthran slices through Mama Roux’s heaving crowd like Moses parting the red sea before announcing ‘Heart Attack American’ – which signals the “greatest hits” part of the band’s Brummie show. If the snarling punk ‘n’ roll of ‘V’ caused widespread chaos, then the injection of ‘Heart Attack American’ should have called for Birmingham to be a state of emergency; bodies hurl themselves from the venue’s stage and speaker stacks, somewhere in-amongst the sold-out venue’s dancefloor Caughthran can be heard screaming the track but he’s a blur as the sea of revellers are joined as one ever moving part. It’s the closest thing to playing punk rock Where’s Wally (or Waldo for our American readers) as it would seem a lot of Bronx fans are folliclely challenged, as there’s a lot of bald dudes in the crowd wearing black t-shirts! ‘Shitty Future’ and ‘The Unholy Hand’ keep the levels of pandemonium in the red zone. ‘Knifeman’s serrated assault keeps things feral and when Caughthran invites the venue’s most adventurous to stage dive during penultimate song ‘They Will Kill Us All (Without Mercy)’ – for nearly four minutes, Mama Roux’s is transformed into some kind of punk rock gymnasium with bodies leaping everywhere you look. ‘History’s Stranglers’ gives Caughthran and his band’s devoted fanbase one more chance to wreak havoc and then The Bronx exit stage left knowing they’ve just shook Mama Roux’s to its foundations.
We may have dreamt of shows like this but The Bronx has now made it a reality; let’s make this a monthly thing yeah?
Photography by Naomi Abbs-Williams
