Reeeeeeeeeallly tempted to call UK legends WIRE “post-punk” rather than punk, ‘cos their classic, raw debut Pink Flag came out in ’77, on the cusp of the dash between punk and post-punk. It was edgy, filled with tracks that raged at about 12 nanoseconds apiece. There was something more accomplished, something less manic, something darker, in Wire’s 21 tracks on Pink Flag than a lot of the technicolour chaos that abounded at the time. (So accomplished, in fact, that Elastica shamefacedly ripped off “Three Girl Rhumba” for its own blinder”Connection”, but anyway.) WIRE were, and continue to be, woefully under-appreciated.

But to the present! So, Colin Newman – and his brilliant custom guitars – Graham Lewis,  Robert “Gotobed” Grey in the back on drums and Matt Simms, an Evan Dando touring doppelganger, were in Vancouver on April 14.”Please Take”  and “Bad Worn Thing” from new album Red Barked Tree (highly recommend) sounded gritty, and “Pink Flag” closed the encores. Mixed bag in between. (Sorry, was drunk, not gonna lie). Still and all, this was not the rager I expected from Wire. Muted? A bit narked off? Tired? Hard to say. Could have also been the Rickshaw Theatre’s roof dripping rainwater perilously close to the amps that dampened things, but hey ho. Wire was, and always will be, the godfathers of UK punk (post-punk?) so we’ll let them off. Enjoy the photos. \m/