The Stranglers 50th anniversary tour at Portsmouth Guildhall | Review

The verdict? Four thumbs up

A full house of (late) middle aged (mainly) men was met with a stage of three chandeliers, various “uplamps” and two rows of intermittent white lights on the back curtain.

Onstage came four musicians dressed smartly in black, reminding me of an animated Kraftwerk.

Then into a first half of, to the non-aficionado, some lesser known songs, some of the vocals seeming to get lost as the music was very loud. Starting off with Just Like Nothing on Earth (having a Peace Sells by Megadeth feel) but then they got into the Stranglers groove with The Raven a heartfelt tribute to departed bandmates Jet Black and Dave Greenfield.

The highlight of the first half was Princess of the Streets and Breathe, both surprisingly bluesy songs, sung very well by “newboy” of 25 years Baz Warne – a singer who definitely has not tried to copy original frontman Hugh Cornwell. He is so much better for not being a Hugh tribute, making the songs his own, in a Dr Feelgood/Wilko Johnson-style of stage performance, excellent on the guitar as well, clear in tone.

The ever-smiling JJ Burnel showed a virtuosity on the bass, a gentler singer of the two, he is moving all the time in a prowling, line dance/kick-ball-change style around the stage, sometimes in harness with Baz, like two prowling bears.

More familiar songs end the first half (Hanging Around) to a great reaction from the audience. Then it’s into what we all wanted – a second half full of gems, each lovingly received by the sometimes pogoing, standing downstairs audience, often looking like the spirit was more willing than the limbs.

Who Wants the World, Duchess, Peaches, my favourite of the evening Skin Deep (brilliant drumming by the excellent Jim Macauley), Always the Sun, Golden Brown, 5 Minutes, to finish on Something Better Change, to then conclude the two hours, which seemed to whizz by, with the oldest ever song by the band (Go Buddy Go), linked to an anecdote from JJ of the early days, the A3, Portsmouth and selling ice cream at the Devil’s Punch Bowl, before, finally, No More Heroes.

Shout out also to keyboardist Toby Hounsham, driving the sound along with the drummer, occasionally a tad too loudly for us, but it’s a small quibble.

I wonder what the 1980s Stranglers would have made of the 2020s version? It is what happens when punk grows up and becomes an excellent band with its own style, almost rock/punk with some blues thrown in for good measure.

With ears ringing a little, two very happy ageing rock/blues fans left the building hoping for another chance to see mature punk by four excellent musicians.