As the initially timid crowd stood hesitantly towards the back of the room, clearly anticipating a taste of things to come, a ferocious Harley Flanagan ordered them forward to fill the gap or he wouldn’t play a single note and Harley is not someone to disobey.
As the crowd shuffled hesitantly forward, Cro-Mags launched into “We Gotta Know” and all hell broke loose as they responded to Flanagan’s call to arms.
From that moment on it was none stop, in your face, classic New York Hardcore by the masters and originators themselves from “No One’s Victim” to “From The Grave”, the hard driving, frantic riffs and deep, grinding grooves had the crowd in an absolute frenzy as Flanagan spat forth his take on social disharmony.
Hailing Newcastle for bringing Venom to the world, Flanagan was clearly delighted to be in the land of his heroes and seemed to step up the level of aggression at the mere mention of their name.
Flanagan showed a more vulnerable side as he broke down on detailing his battles with PTSD and life on the streets and how they shaped his life. Flanagan fought back the tears of rage and despair as he launched into a brutal “PTSD” from their latest album In The Beginning before heading right back to the very start with “World Peace.”
As the evening progressed more people ventured up onto the stage, some trading vocals with Flanagan and others hurling themselves into the furious moshpit in front of them and surfing across the heads of the increasing lively crowd, who at one stage burst through the fire escape.
During a relentless “Life On Earth” a stage diver inadvertently knocked the power off bringing brief respite to the shattered crowd but normal service was swiftly resumed with “Street Justice” and “Survival of the Streets” and just as the show was reaching fever pitch…bang, the Cro-Mags literally blew the fuse with their high intensity, rabble rousing show. A smiling Flanagan yelled an apology over the cheering crowd bringing the show to a slightly premature but ultimately exhilarating end.
Review and Photos By Mick Burgess
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