On a rainy Friday evening in October, Music Scene Media attended the Birmingham headline show for 90s rave-meets-punk legends Pop Will Eat Itself, celebrating the release of their most recent album, “Delete Everything.”
As close to a hometown show as possible, Pop Will Eat Itself headlined the famous 02 Institute in Digbeth, Birmingham. The band itself have roots in Stourbridge, but the band is made up of members hailing from all over the west midlands.
Tagging along on the tour as main support was Irish punk provocateur Meryl Streek, filled with rage recounting tales of misjustice in Ireland and the ongoing struggle of the everyday person, not only back home in Ireland but everywhere in the world today. The local support for the night was The Lydons, also hailing from the black country, specifically Stourbridge as well.
The Lydons opened the show for the evening, and it’s no surprise that they were chosen. Formed in 2023, the band have gone from strength to strength in a short two-year span, being championed by members of Wunderhorse and John Kennedy.
The Lydons' sound sits somewhere between the indie sound of the 90s but with all of the sharp edges of punk, all twangy guitars backed with bass-heavy grooves and a singer who treats the stage as his own personal pit. It’s strange how cyclical music can be. Their wardrobe nods to the recent revival of Britpop Britannia with the reunited Oasis brothers - not the swaggering lout variety, mind you, but the tailored yet slightly nostalgic nod to the stylings and musical sounds.
Their frontman emerged onto the stage proudly embellishing a Stourbridge FC scarf wrapped around his neck, displaying it to the crowd before donning it onto his microphone stand.
When they started, the room was half-empty, but by the time the set started rolling, it began to fill quickly. By now, the lead guitarist, in suitable attire shades and parka, chimed in “Any old school rockers in the house? Let’s get a bit of movement.” And movement there was, as the crowd began to let loose, all the while the singer himself began swinging from his mic stand like a musical weapon of mass destruction. By now, their set approached the end. “Have we enjoyed ourselves?,” the singer asked almost rhetorically, as the crowd roars back. “Fucking beautiful,” and he grinned.
The vibe of the venue changed when Meryl Streek stormed the stage. Meryl emerged on stage as the opener “The Beginning,” from his sophomore album, "Songs for the Deceased," echoed throughout the venue, featuring soundbites about inequality, and homelessness in Ireland from a variety of Irish news clips. The atmosphere set in, and the lights dimmed down for extra effect.
Meryl stalked the stage back and forth, bracing himself for the set, as the crowd watched. As the track ended and kicked into “Fine Jail,” Meryl stepped into almost acrobatics, running up and down the stage, jumping off the wall, as the track began. Meryl wasted no time before descending into “Bertie,” about former Irish Taoiseach (prime minister), known for corruption and his role in the Irish financial and house crashes of 2008, which echoes are still felt to this very day.
Meryl then descended into the crowd for his tale of financial woes and gambling addiction, which affects not only a huge number of people in Ireland, but also the world — “Gambling Death.” Moving up and down, immersed in the crowd with reckless abandon, and no holds barred with this punk’s confrontational music about real cases, real people, and real problems that the working class faces day-to-day.
There were moments of reprieve during the set, and Meryl paid tribute to his late uncle “Paddy.” At the end of the song, the entire crowd chanted back the outro with him: “You’ll always be missed and you’ll always be loved.” Finishing out the set, Meryl ended with his earnest but hopeful vision of what the future could hold, with “If This is Life,” and had the crowd chant in unison. Meryl remarked before finishing: “I may look like a dickhead with a backing track but it’s about the message.”
Now it was time for the headliner, Pop Will Eat Itself, to commandeer the stage, opening with the first track of their new album, “The Slammer.” The electro-punk pioneers wasted no time jumping around the stage. The dual vocalists have garnered a unique following of fans, from young industrial goths at the barrier donning “Rammstein” t-shirts, to 90s raver veterans who have followed the band since their beginnings. An entirely cocktail of industry attendees were all there, celebrating the band.
The band tore through their catalogue of music with a mixture of fan favourites, as well as fresh singles from their latest album, “Delete Everything.” This included classic tracks, such as “Ich bin ein Ausslander” and “Def.Con.One,” to some of their latest singles, “Incarcerate the Rich” and “Bruiser.” The two frontmen showed no signs of relenting even as a a band in their 60s, moving more and full of youthful energy, putting to shame bands decades their junior.
Standout tracks, such as “Def.Con.One,” were almost fever dream in their mash up of samples that sounded odd on paper but worked so well live, such as sampling and melding “Funkytown,” “Crazy Horses," and even the “Twilight Zone” TV series soundtrack theme. They even included halfway through, their collaboration track they did with dance music legends “The Prodigy," called “Their Law.”
Pop Will Eat Itself proved themselves yet again that they remain as vital and just as relevant as ever, proving they can bring their genre-bending melding of distorted guitar driven riffs, chaotic humour, and vocals all mixed in with rave electronic beats.
