Levellers @ Brixton Academy, London
Date: 19th March 2011
Support: The Wonder Stuff
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It has been twenty years since the Levellers’ sophomore effort, Levelling the Land was released and arguably became the crowning jewel of their career. They would of course go onto to become more widely known to the world and rake in the benefits of that, but Levelling the Land gives us a taste of that rare “Perfect Album” which few bands manage to achieve in twenty years, let alone three.
And so to celebrate twenty glorious years since Levelling the Land was released, the band have treated us to a showcase tour, playing the album in its entirety, including those damned elusive B-Sides. The show at the glorious Brixton Academy opens with a 5 minute montage of Thatcherism, wheeler-dealer politics and poll-tax protesters (amongst others) receiving little recognition for their efforts but a boot in the face. Perhaps it stems from my innate fear of mass chanting, but I find the inevitable unison of boo-ing, loud swearing and various hand gestures which erupt from the 5,000-odd strong crowd a bit unnerving, most unnecessary and disappointingly provocative. If ever there were a case of preaching to the converted, this must surely be it.
Once the audience is suitably ‘warmed up’ the show begins, with no niceties, no “How you doin’ BRIXTOOOOOOONNNN!!!!”s and ploughs straight into One Way, the first track of the album which the band proceeds to play in order, with the B-Sides sandwiched in the middle of two ‘sides’ of main tracks. There were no surprises when it came to the set list (of course) but the unrelentingly devoted crowd roared their way through each number with passion and a wonderfully uplifting amount of energy, perhaps only broken by the B-Sides which gave everyone a much needed chance to get a fresh beer whilst soaking up the lesser-known tracks off the album, including “Dance Before the Storm”, a spritely tune which keeps everyone’s ears pricked and raring for more.
The rest of the A-sides deliver much the same level of power and energy we would expect from the Levellers, a band who never falter, never tire and never give up fighting ‘the fight.’ The album finishes as suddenly as it began and I’m left wondering if that really was ninety minutes I just danced my way through in a style which would make Michael Flatley proud – the energy and excitement were maintained at such a high level throughout, the whole thing zoomed by in what seemed like five minutes flat. The band resume the stage for the inevitable encore, which brought things to a formal close with the likes of Hope Street and Carry Me and the audience streams out into the chilly Brixton night, their thoughts back on reality and “how the bloody hell am I meant to get home if the Victoria Line’s down?!”.
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