This was the first night of Ferocious Dog’s tour to celebrate the release of the band’s latest album Kleptocracy that was released on the 17th May, the day of the show that guaranteed The 100 Club was sold out.
Ferocious Dog @ 100 Club
Opening the show were The Cloverhearts who live by the slogan Hungover since 2019, as they wear their Celtic Punk hearts on their sleeves. They started off a very hyperactive and bouncy set with singer Sam Cooper telling us he was Gonna Be Outraged possibly at how low in the mix the bagpipes were. Still the piper switched to tin Whistle as Sam told us all to sing along as they went na na na an awful lot, the band ran all over the stage and used the flight cases strategically placed on the stage as steps.
We Like Beer was keeping to the bands drunken comfort zone, great fun in a Dropkick Murphy’s style drunken brawl. Sam made clear they were all about inclusion and introduced some audience members to each other before they played You’ve Got A Friend, in this case it was in Beer rather than Jesus.
As they tried to get the bagpipes to sound right, they were also wondering “how in the hell you sleep at night with those riffs rolling round your head”. The Tin Whistle cut through more than the bagpipes had, while they looked deep in Your Eyes, they stood on the steps looking down at us. Sam was soon insisting Beer Is Good and making us raise our glasses to them while jumping around creating mayhem.
They tipped a nod to the bands heroes, with a raucous sing along to Country Roads before they closed by rampaging through Black Eyes & Broken Hearts to leave a lot of the crowd wanting more from The Cloverhearts.
Ferocious Dog got the crowd ready by playing Billy Braggs Power In A Union, that loads of us sang along to as Ferocious Dog walked on stage, ready to blast into Pentrich Rising that had the first of Jamie Burney’s masterful fiddle solos, as Sam Wood was going for it on Tin Whistle in his hippified beanie hat. They went straight into a fast and furious version of Matty Groves that was shorn off its English Folk roots sounding like a classic Celtic punk anthem.
They kept with the new Kleptocracy album for a bruising encounter with Iron Mike Malloy who was not to be messed with, Ken Bonsall made sure we know that this was the band’s album launch before playing the title tune Kleptocracy that was met like it’s an old favourite.
They kept the politics at the forefront on SUS Laws that sounded angrier live than it does on the album. Broken Soldier was dedicated to any soldiers suffering from PTSD as this sad tale has plenty of sympathy for the victims.
Spin included more of Sam’s Tin whistle magic, that was perfect for the pit to get wilder too. Pocket Of Madness had some full-on antics from Luke Grainger as his drumming drilled into the heart of the madness. Ken wanted to tell us all about the Darker Side Of Town as the band slowed down a little bit from the frantic pace they were playing at.
Ken took a good look round The 100 Club to check no members of The Punk Police had shown up, as their tirade against the enforcement of rules on a lifestyle that is meant to have no rules. Ken gave shout outs to several of his heroes at the intro to Protest Singer as they made clear that the time to protest is now.
If any activity needs a banjo player driving it along then it must be a Witch Hunt as Sam really let rip on his banjo. Moby Dick sounded as salty as it needs too before getting beached on the Blood Soaked Shores of another dreadful pointless conflict, that had a massive mosh pit going mad, at what can happen in A Place Called Home when it’s run by thievery and deceit and we can be led along by a Tin Whistle pied piper.
Ferocious Dog have noticed that they are travelling through a land full of Anger On The Streets as everyone hates the Tories. Anyone who still had drinks raised a Parting Glass to those no longer around. The social lesson of Paddy On The Railway was nailed in a hail of fast guitars with super spry fiddle.
Hell Hounds were not trying to chase us out of The 100 club but they did get an even bigger pit going before they closed by taking us to Mairi’s Wedding Pt II. Of course we all went nuts at the end of this brilliant set and they returned to fly through Slow Motion Suicide, a pertinent song to close a ferociously good set.
Live review of Ferocious Dog + The Cloverhearts at 100 Club, London on 17th May 2024 by Simon Phillips, photography by Louise Phillips.
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