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Third band tonight are Lustre King. Having stopped playing three years ago, they were reformed for one night only to see out Sweep. A hard band to describe… like a middle ground between Fugazi and American Heritage but fronted by Dave-Lee Roth. Mike the guitarist is never still or even on the same piece of stage for more than two seconds, and in between songs indulges in constant banter with the crowd - all of them witty one-liners - he is a comedian at heart. A shame they've stopped for good, but I'm glad that I can at least say I've seen them live. After the briefest of line-checks Sweep The Leg Johnny launch straight into 'Bloodlines', and it's like I'm home again with my favourite band. Tight, dynamic, loud, intense… there are not enough adjectives to describe them. The added guitar of Mitch Cheney adds further to the magical brew they concoct. With the extra guitar the sound is almost too intense for words to describe. Added to this, he's also bouncing off the walls, lying on his back and generally abusing his poor guitar, leaving Chris to further concentrate on drinking beer, jumping around and play even more intricate parts. It's like Mitch has been in the band for years! The rest of the band is the same tight unit of old. Scotty bangs the drums like his life depends on it, but that great smile of his is accentuated with the fact that he now has a front tooth missing. John stands feet spread apart looking straight at the crowd while plucking the crispest of bass notes. Chris head down wrestling his poor guitar into some kind of satanical acquiescence, while trying not to spill his beer… and failing! Steve staring the spectators out while attempting to make his alto sax heard against the noise core of the rest of the crew. From subtle sections of the music where you could hear a pin drop, to almost white noise, they steer us on an aural journey most bands would be hard pressed to come even close to. At the end of 'Rest Stop', Steve hands out drumsticks to the crowd and it ends up with at least 20 plus people, banging the drums and cymbals in time with the closing bars with Scotty, as the rest of the band leave the stage. After a good five minutes of the crowd baying for more, Chris takes to the stage to tell his favourite joke, and inform us that he has no strings left on his guitar. Bummer! An hour of Sweep is just not enough. It's an emotional night for audience and band alike. The whole band is smiling throughout this gig. They played their first show here, and are going out in style, with the whole audience totally and completely fixated on the superb show unfolding in front of their eyes and ears. Near the end of the show the venue runs completely dry of beer as the party gets well and truly underway - later to resume at Chris and Johns' place with the beers and foosball flowing into the early hours. The newer tracks from the current album sound like classics already and I feel it's a criminal offence that this band will be no-more after the UK tour in September - so make sure you make it to at least one show! This has got to rate as one of my favourite gigs of all time. There is no band like Sweep. I can only sum up with Steve's words when trying to describe themselves. Sweep is Sweep. skippy Sweep The Leg Johnny set-list: Bloodlines / Sometimes My Balls Feel Like Tits / Only In A Rerun / The One That Goes Boom / The Blizzard Of '99 / The Fine Wrinkles, We Have Them All / Rest Stop |