The Next Big Thing

The Fleshtones in Stockholm - Friday 6th February

The Debaser Club in Stockholm, a concrete bunker underneath the main road that runs north-south through the city, was bursting with the original spirit of rock’n’roll last Friday night.

The Maggots were the first to testify and illustrated why they are the perfect support band for a Super Rock tour of the “Frozen North”. Think, a no-nonsense attitude to the job in hand, well chosen covers such as “Circle Sky, and clanging originals. Tough guys with a tough sound. Hopefully the ‘tones will loan their Farfisa to them for the remainder of the tour so that their keyboard player can ditch the tinkling ivories though. A large crowd then assembled for a rare home-town show by the Nomads. Their performance was tight, confident and Nix Nomads voice, for my money at least, sounded even better than it does on disc. With the Nomads set list emphasising recent material such as “Don’t Pull My String” and “Ain't Yet Dead”, it was a pity that both audience and band remained rooted to the spot throughout the set. For a moment I thought I was back in London surrounded by a bunch of “Impress me!” geeks? But what the hey, for the gig was sufficiently primed for the return of Super Rock to the Swedish capital.

Arriving on stage as if they were about to play their first encore of the evening, the Fleshtones tore through “House of Rock” and one could not have wished for a more appropriate mission statement. Suddenly, we were in the cool and solid marble mausoleum that the ‘tones have built alone. Mixing old material alongside the new while running, jumping and blowing whistles, more than one observer must have wondered how long these “old geezers” where gonna last. Suffice to say that they did and the show flew by in a rapid ninety minutes. Random memories include that look of absolute concentration on Bill’s face. Peter, Ken and Keith building a human pyramid mid-song near the end of the show. The sight of a man wearing a shirt emblazoned with pink elephants, and well into his 5th decade, surfing the crowd on more than one occasion. Ken and Keith playing each other’s guitars during the introduction to “Roman Gods”. Keith standing on a chair and leaning over the microphone during “Way Down South” and “Communication Breakdown”. Peter, Ken and Keith hooking arms and forming a defiant “Powerstance” minutes into the set. And Bill Milhizer, standing tall behind the drum kit and knocking out that colossal beat for what seemed like most of the night.

For not only are these guys fun to watch they are damn professional too. It’s debatable how kind the musical history books will be to the Fleshtones, but those who attended the show at Debaser will hopefully smile at the memory and remember that the Fleshtones gave it their best.