BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD | LIVE REVIEW
Portland House, Cardiff Bay, Wed 9 Dec
When we last met, at Clwb Ifor Bach in May 2019 for the Late Night City Sermon, the venue was packed, the atmosphere was electrifying and I was left jabbering rabidly about “the inestimable joys of messy, sweaty salvation”. It feels like at least a lifetime ago. Tonight, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard are playing to an empty room at Portland House, except for the facemasked cameramen capturing the show for an audience sat at home sipping tea.
2020 was all set to be their year – but then came coronavirus and lockdown, depriving us of personal contact, let alone “messy, sweaty salvation”. In times of trouble, though, people search for spiritual sustenance, and Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard have retained their faith in rock‘n’roll as a religion that can offer hope and succour even in the darkest of days. In the circumstances, fan favourite John Lennon Is My Jesus Christ takes on added significance.
It’s one of only three familiar songs, and the other two – the AC/DC strut of recent single 30,000 Megabucks and Double Denim Hop, ZZ Top doing powerpop in platform shoes – open the set. We’ve been forewarned to expect lashings of new material, though, and it doesn’t disappoint – especially Crescent Man Vs Demolition Dan, an ode to dearly departed Cardiff venue Gwdihw, and unexpectedly soulful easy-like-Sunday-morning ballad Yourself, which sees drummer Ethan Hurst cutting loose and features Rhys Underdown of new Libertino signees Bandicoot on sax.
The lack of a live audience could have made the viewing experience feel like spying on a band rehearsal, but frontman Tom Rees is a natural born performer simply incapable of dialling it down. He exerts a magnetic effect on the camera lens, showing off his signature moves, refreshing himself between songs (“It’s not widely considered cool to drink ginger tea while you’re playing a show, but we’re all about breaking down boundaries”) and dispensing sound culinary advice (“You can’t be using same-day rice in egg-fried rice – you fucking animal”).
Appropriately enough, at the end of a year in which music has been one of the few things keeping many of us going, the set concludes with a song called Rock On. They don’t – instead generously handing over the stage to party punks Panic Shack (“My third favourite band, after Phil Collins and Red Hot Chili Peppers”, says Tom) for a spicy two-track encore – but Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard’s commitment to the rock‘n’roll cause remains reassuringly steadfast.
words BEN WOOLHEAD photos RHODRI BROOKS