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Monday, March 26, 2012

Mick Farren and the Deviants/Del Bromham- Borderline, London March 23rd, 2012


Mick Farren and the Deviants/Del Bromham- Borderline, London March 23rd, 2012

          This was going to be a very special night. Mick was being backed by the original Pink Fairies rhythm section of Sandy on bass and Russell on drums. Mick’s long time guitar player Andy as well. I saw the Deviants at the 1st Terrastock festival in Providence RI in 1997 (recorded the show too!). I even dug out the t-shirt for this night. It was a fun show back then and I was hoping the same tonight.

          The lead guitar player, Del Brohman from Stray opened the show with an acoustic set of blues stuff. Sue is a big fan of Stray but I am not all the familiar with them but I like their hard rocking stuff. It was mostly tracks from his CD from a few years ago called Devil’s Canyon plus a few Stray songs. At first people were not very attentive but by the end the crowd of older people was into it. I did not feel like the youngest in this crowd for sure. He played about 45 mins.

          They did not take too long to set up. I noticed Mick sitting to the left of the stage alone so I tried to approach him to say hello and show him the Terrastock shirt and ask him nicely about his memory of the gig but he was not feeling very well. He was really struggling to catch his breath, so I left him alone.


          They opened with I’m the Man with Sandy singing before Mick was helped up on to the stage to sit on his chair with his stand for his lyrics. He sounded slightly drunk, like his is suppose to and was in a very good mood, even though you could see he was not feeling that well, sweating a lot and having a hard time breathing. He also spoke about having to quit smoking or die. He seems like he is suffering from emphysema. Anyway, back to the gig. Half Price Drink was one a lot of people knew. The band sounded great with Andy playing lots of guitar solos. The rhythm guitar player, Tim Rundall, could not be heard at all the entire night and we were standing right in front of him and his amp! They played several brand new songs including the funny Cocaine and Gunpowder, Andy sang the next one, Police State. Another new one Beautiful Women and Broken Machines followed. Mick would say some funny stuff in between the songs including talking about quitting smoking was the toughest thing. He still has a strong wit and humor and excellent delivery of the vocals, despite struggling to breath. They played one really old Deviants song, Billy the Monster. Another new song, the Aztec calendar has run out was pretty funny. Andy sang Stopped at the Border and this gave Mick a break. Something to do between Cigarettes was one I had never heard. They ended the set with a couple of blues songs.

          I was surprised they did not do any of the famous Pink Faries songs but it was a short 65min set. I had a very nice time. It was reat to see Jon Jarrett and Andy Gilham, whom I had not seen in some years, especially Andy. I also met up with Mick and his wife Joy from the Atomic Workers. A fun night and I am really glad to have been here since Mick may not play that many more gigs..

Set list: I’m the Man, Half Price Drinks, Leader, Concaine and Gunpowder, Police State, Beautiful women and broken Machines, Billy the Monster, Aztec Calendar just ran out, Stopped at the Border, Something to do between cigarettes, Taste the Blues, Blues?




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