The Stranglers -

The Leadmill, Sheffield

17/11/02

Visually, The Stranglers, look a very different band on stage these days. Gone, is front man Hugh Cornwall who left the band in 1990 to be replaced by a separate lead vocalist and a lead guitarist making them a five piece. However, the sound of the band is unmistakably the same. The engine room of the band is unchanged with Jet Black on drums, J. J. Burnell on bass and Dave Greenfield with his sixties Doors-esque keyboard sound.

A crowded Leadmill venue with an audience of thirty and forty somethings and large cult following of just eighteens enjoyed a set which drew mainly from the band's back catalogue such as "Was it you", "Grip", "Peaches", "5 Minutes", "Nuclear Device", "Golden Brown", "Duchess", "Skin Deep" and "Always The Sun". It's Strange to think that when the band were at their peak of their success in the late seventies and early eighties many of the kids in the audience weren't even born.

Particular highlights of the set were a brilliant versions of "Something Better Change", The Stranglers own version of the old Dionne Warwick classic "Walk On By", with Dave Greenfield doing his party piece, playing one handed while swallowing the contents of a pint glass with the other ventriloquist style and "No More Heroes" which closed the show.

The Men in Black still sounding good.