The Cockney Rejects sold out The Grand Social Dublin. Quite a number of old faces that you wouldn’t see around much anymore have made an appearance. There’s a lot of shaved heads and flight jackets, and a generous turnout of a younger generation of fans. After the Rejects vacated themselves last year, Jeff Turner decided that he wanted to keep touring and recruited a new band comprising Ray Bussey (Argy Bargy, The Last Resort), JJ Pearse (The Last Resort, Anti-Nowhere League) and the one and only Olga (Toy Dolls).
The gig is good natured bedlam. The band is energised with it’s new recruits. Turner bounces around the stage shadowboxing and shoving the mic into the faces at the front. The crowd drag each other around the floor. Every so often someone goes down and is yanked back on their feet.
The new band is seasoned and weighty, but I can’t help feeling that Olga’s talents are wasted here. Not to denigrate the Rejects, but it’s a different sort of Oi! And there’s no band quite like the Toy Dolls. Listen to thirty seconds of any song and you know that Olga can fly. This is my first time seeing the new Rejects lineup, and for the whole gig I’m waiting for him to take off… and he doesn’t. I feel a little bit let down.
The gig ends with I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles and the usual stage invasion. The old faces gather outside to continue drinking and catch up.
A good night all-in-all.
Cockney Rejects photos & set-list:
Set-list:
Flares ‘n’ Slippers
Fighting in the Streets
West Side Boys
We Are the Firm
Are You Ready to Ruck
The Power and the Glory
East End
Subculture
I’m Not a Fool
Headbanger
Someone Like You
Shitter
Where the Hell Is Babylon
Join the Rejects
The Greatest Cockney Rip Off
Bad Man
War on the Terraces
Police Car
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles (Charles Hart & Elliott Shaw cover)
Oi! Oi! Oi!
Photos & words Cormac Figgis @themasterswitch