All Panic Shack photographs courtesy of Chris Hogge Photography
Panic Shack were re-visiting our Dear Green Place as part of their powerhouse of a debut album tour having slayed a packed King Tuts in May prior to the album release. Having had the pleasure of being part of the sweaty mass on that occasion, the anticipation was great, and expectations high.
First up it was Punchbag and, having been introduced to the excellent duo The Pill on Panic Shack’s previous outing, then enjoying their return to Glasgow later in the year in Nice n Sleazy, I was hoping for another impressive support band. Punchbag didn’t disappoint. The quartet played a high-energy electro-rock set kicking off with their signature tune, I’m Not Your Punchbag. Lead singer Clara was a furious ball of boundless energy pacing across the stage and belting out songs like I Love This!(we could tell) and You Used to Be So Sexy and never standing still even between songs. I considered myself sufficiently warmed up, and smiled at one of the bands highlights. Their song called Fuck It is a sage piece of advice for life, and also sums up the cocksure attitude of the night’s headliners.
So to the night’s headliners in the shape of the candid and irreverent Panic Shack, a band not backwards in coming forward and not afraid of speaking their mind through their sharp observations of life with a huge slab of humour injected for good measure. The question had to be, would the success of the album have changed them? The answer? Not one iota, but also, yes it has! Not one iota in that, thankfully, they are still as much the attitude fuelled, potty mouthed bunch of party loving miscreants as they ever were. The yes is that they are even brasher, louder and prouder than they have ever been before.
The band set their stall out from the off with their fuck you ode to every make over show, fashion magazine or model who try to brainwash or dictate what a woman should look like. Part acid tongued takedown and part tongue in cheek ballseyness, Gok Wan doesn’t miss. I’m willing to bet Kate Moss regrets ever using the “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels quote” now, what with Lambrini Girls using it on their debut album too. The starter gun well and truly fired, Panic Shack were off the starting blocks and in doing so pretty much left all of their challengers in their wake… this show was rocket fuelled in its pace and intensity. Sarah made it evidently clear that she didn’t want to “hold your fucking baby” as their ire moved from body image to pushy mums. Beginning to regret the out of the blocks analogy now as the third song hits…with the pacey running and tripping of Personal Best “All the blood in my body has rushed to my face, Like an out-of-shapе tomato moving at a snail’s pace.” Hey, it doesn’t matter how they get there, Panic Shack are on championship pace tonight.
If I was to have suggested any association between lad rock and riot grrrl in the 1990s I’d probably have been torn to shreds by some of the bands in the latter category, but I’m leaning towards that as a perfect description of Panic Shack, if their breathless (well I certainly was after the performance tonight) anthem Girl Band Starter Pack is anything to go by. The song embodies their raisin d’etre, a fuck you loving life attitude with a “but don’t fucking mess with us” undertone. I could go on and on extolling the virtues of every single song in the set, from the triumphant taking on the world attitude of Thelma and Louise (which made me smile thinking of a couple of friends I bumped into unexpectedly earlier – you know who you are), the riotous humour and two fingers sassiness of Tit School through to the underlying menace of We Need To Talk About Dennis. There was not a moment wasted in the sold hour and a bit long performance.
For a band that clearly don’t take themselves too seriously and are living life to the max, one thing they do take seriously is their playing. The sound was immense, Em’s bass playing is next level, showcased brilliantly on tracks like Do Something, and alongside “token” bloke Nick on drums, forms a gargantuan foundation for the songs, with the dual guitars from Meg and Romi a note perfect machine gun attack. Of course, I can’t not mention the stunning cover version of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs, at first taking us by surprise before grabbing us by the throat and shaking us to our very foundations, it would have given even Ozzy and Co. a run for their money such was its power and intensity.
War Pigs gave way to a quartet of mighty tunes to bring the set to a close, the aforementioned Tit School, followed by a boisterous Who’s Got My Lighter?, before one of my personal favourites Pockets, with its singalong chorus (which morphed into a Free Free Palestine chant at one point) then closing the set with their classic fan favourite The Ick, they left the stage as they should, with us all baying for more.
I’ll tell you what, I thought they smashed it at King Tuts, but this show was other level stuff. I’d challenge any comers to try to beat that one. Shack Shack indeed!
