The Mob - The Macbeth - Hoxton - June 4th 2011

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• published: 26 Jun 2016
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How did this gig come about so suddenly and with no notice to the public? Well…Mark and Leah were contacted by Allison of The Kills two weeks ago. Allison was organising fellow Kills member Jamie Hince’s stag night before he is wed to the Croydon supermodel Kate Moss. Allison inquired whether Jamie’s favourite ever band and main inspiration in his teenage years could perform at a (then unspecified) venue in London. Mark asked the other band members and it was agreed to perform in London at a free party organised by Allison. The Mob milled around the guests throughout the night (some of which had not crossed paths for twenty five or thirty years) until Allison phoned through to advise that the first part of Jamie’s stag night was finished, and that Jamie and his entourage were on route from the restaurant and heading towards the venue. The restaurant part of the evening had overrun by around thirty minutes but none of the crowd were restless as there were too many old faces to reconnect to in the audience. The Mob placed themselves onto the stage ready to start off at the thumbs up signal from Tess on the door. The thumb went up just after ten and giving a few seconds to ensure Jamie and his entourage were in the pub. The Mob then blasted off with ‘Youth’, Grant Showbiz on the sound desk wrestling with some small feedback issues at the very first few bars of the track. Jamie sussed the track immediately and after recognising Mark from the Thursday night meeting in Bristol, he then realised that this was the real band not just some cover band performing Mob classics! I was next to Grant at the time, pressing the play / record button on my tape deck and saw Jamie’s overjoyed face around the door way. He let out a yelp and went straight down the front and remained there throughout the set. He left some of his party to enjoy the band from a distance. Some notables in Jamie’s party were Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream and Mick Jones from The Clash. The Mob performed one of the best gigs I had ever heard or witnessed. Perhaps it was the tiny venue, perhaps the free entry to the guests (donations were gratefully received near the front door), perhaps it was the amount of old Mob followers, All The Madmen records operatives, Puppies and other ex squatter types in the audience. It was more than likely a blistering combination of all these factors, The Mob relaxed after ‘Youth’ and went onto to ‘What’s Going On’ straight into ‘Shuffling Souls’ not missing a beat, and hitting the absolute minimum of bum notes for the whole set. The performance had energy and power, The Mob were at there absolute best throwing out classic song after classic song… Jamie sweated every last beat of the drum and downward strum of the guitar, all throughout the set. For the complete review read the KYPP post: http://killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/the-mob-idiot-strength-the-macbeth-hoxton-040611/ Video courtesy of Sid Truelove at UVP Productions - http://uvp-productions.co.uk/ Indebted to Sid...