2 Rude & The Mid-Life Kicks at The Tunnels - Live Music Review

Posted on: 2016-11-28

Our rating:

When my brother and I arrived not long after the doors had opened, the animated crowd was already clearly in unshackled, Friday night, let-your-hair-down spirits, quaffing beers aplenty and chatting excitedly before the first band took to the stage.


Few genres of music will get you in the boisterous, end-of-week celebratory spirit than a gig showcasing the brilliance of Ska and punk in all its catchily frivolous, energetic glory - and tribute bands 2 Rude and The Mid-Life Kicks did just that when they performed at The Tunnels in Bristol on Friday 25 November 2016.

2 Rude & The Mid-Life Kicks at The Tunnels - Live Music Review

When my brother and I arrived not long after the doors had opened, the animated crowd was already clearly in unshackled, Friday night, let-your-hair-down spirits, quaffing beers aplenty and chatting excitedly before the first band took to the stage.  

 

The Mid-Life Kicks undeniably got proceedings off to a rousing start, the Bristol 4-piece whipping the city's gathered music-loving masses into a fervent frenzy with a selection of punk and new wave that triumphantly set the tone for the rest of the night.

 

By the time South Wales tribute band 2 Rude strutted on to the stage, the crowd's unrestrained, wild claps and cheers were rewarded by the band plunging headfirst with total, unrestrained, freewheeling glee into a set that impeccably recreated some of the most popular and iconic Ska and 2-Tone songs ever written.  

2 Rude & The Mid-Life Kicks at The Tunnels, Bristol

From the minute they launched into Madness' immortal classic One Step Beyond, 2 Rude had the entire audience in the palm of their hand. For the best part of two solid hours they tore their way through a stunning, blistering set of hits by The Specials, Madness, The Beat and Bad Manners (to name but four), all replicated with faultless note-for-note accuracy and and carried relentlessly through with an ebullient, infectious enthusiasm.

 

No small wonder this 7-piece ensemble of extraordinary musicians and players have performed thousands of sell-out shows to gig-going, music-loving, Ska and punk-crazed aficionados across the length and breadth of the country. They were professionalism personified, clearly in love with the music and entertaining the throngs of dancing, moshing, increasingly uncontrollable revellers, who didn't stop grooving and singing along to the tunes for as long as the band was belting out the classics.   

 

As the flecks of sweat stopped whiplashing from foreheads and the crowd reluctantly dispersed into the cold, dark night, 2 Rude's passionate, faithful sonic reconstructions from a historic back catalogue of seminal, unforgettable hits left everyone departing on a blissful, ecstatic high.

5/5

The Tunnels, Bristol



Article by:

Jamie Caddick

Jamie is a writer, blogger, journalist, critic, film fan, soundtrack nerd and all-round Bristolian good egg.  He loves the music of Philip Glass, the art of Salvador Dali, the writings of Charles Bukowksi and Hunter S Thompson, the irreverence of Harry Hill, and the timeless, straw-chomping exuberance of The Wurzels.  You can sometimes find him railing against a surging tide of passing cyclists, or gorging himself senseless on the Oriental delights of a Cosmos all-you-can-eat buffet.