England’s Sex Pistols played at The Union Event Center on October 10. Starcrawler opened.
First thing’s first: Never heard word one about Starcrawler until a couple nights before the concert, and they were an absolute thrill ride, start to finish. Lead singer Arrow de Wilde is one of the most engaging frontwomen I’ve ever seen, and she’s a large reason why it’s so hard to stop watching the band play. Not since I saw the beautiful erratic Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil in concert a lot of years ago — bugged out eyes, bald head, dancing like a far-too-excited male version of Elaine Benes — have I been so transfixed by what I witnessed. And I can hardly recall a time I was sadder about an opener ending so soon. Don’t ask me to remember a song beyond their cover of “Pet Sematary,” but that performance? Tattooed on my brain.
Gallery by Stephen Speckman
And when three of four original Sex Pistols (Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock) combine with the ferocity that is Frank Carter as their singer (and he is just 42 years young), a lot of interesting scenes unfold. All of a sudden, they were no nostalgia act, but a band that felt like a punch you weren’t quite expecting, like it still had a roaring, growing fire in its belly; they felt as fresh as any band just a few years old or less. Songs like “Holidays In The Sun”, “Pretty Vacant” and “God Save The Queen” transformed to angrier, more compelling anthems that felt like they mattered as much now as they did then. Feeling dangerous can be dangerously entertaining, and they proved it.
One last bit: I can’t make too big a deal out of this but seeing Carter clamber off the stage and do a few songs from the floor while a very active mosh pit spun around him in circles, that was worth the price of admission right there. Adrenaline was at an all time high. Never seen anything quite like it. Nobody was hurt. And, when they did a very different kind of mosh pit later — one strictly for the ladies — only one guy and his very colorful mohawk got thrown out for not playing by those easy rules. Everyone else, they moshed nicely. Dizzily. Happily. And why not? They had an incredible soundtrack.
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