Back in Cardiff for their first headline tour, tonight in Clwb Ifor Bach feels like one big ‘welcome home’ party for local live heroes Panic Shack. Ahead of them on this live bill, psych rockers and fellow Cardiff natives The Family Battenburg, and Brighton duo Snayx, who are climbing the alt-rock ranks supporting the likes of Nova Twins.
Snayx lead singer Charlie Herridge prowls the stage – and some of the rest of the venue – like a man possessed, spending almost as much time singing directly into people’s faces, wide-eyed unblinking, as he does keeping a more socially compliant distance above them. Lyrics about being kicked out of a bank for being too overdrawn, working too hard for minimum wage, and “hanging” the Powers That Be get heads nodding (easy targets, but still satisfying to hit square-on) while a surprise Vengaboys interlude gets bodies jumping, including most of Panic Shack in the sold-out audience pit, who seem to be there for a good time as much as any paying punter.
When the female foursome, plus drummer Nick Doherty, actually take to the stage, the air’s alive with heated anticipation before they play a single note. Last year in this very same venue, the punk five-piece were still testing the waters somewhat; band and audience getting acquainted with one another. Now, the time for pleasantries is over: opening with Baby and moving into Mannequin Man, the band gets right down to business and the energy rarely lets up for one moment during their 40ish-minute set.
Part of the fun of going to a Panic Shack show is their semi-ironic sense of showmanship – unafraid of a few synchronised dance moves for the aforementioned Mannequin Man, or even fake fighting in the break of favourite single, Jui Jits You. There are hints of the B52s, surfer rock and rockabilly in these moments of silliness, not to mention an almost 90s girl band feeling of unity, only pulled off by the group fully committing to the bits.
The dramatically slow-boiling rage of I Don’t Really Like That, with Sarah, Meg, Romi and Em Smith silhouetted like an immovable wall of female defiance, remains effective in whipping us into a frenzy, as is their (apparently) controversial hit The Ick and newer song Meal Deal, which they pause before playing to lament might become a tribute to an endangered supermarket staple if the Welsh government gets its way. The rabble-rousing Who’s Got My Lighter? rounds things off, lead vocalist Sarah Harvey hitting the “Well, it was fuckin’ one of yous!” quote at the end like a bulldozer, even after going hell for leather for well over half an hour. Earsplitting applause is rewarded with an encore treat: Gay Bar by the inimitable Electric Six, an alt-rock party floorfiller that while entirely unexpected, feels entirely appropriate for a group of Panic Shack’s humour and vigour.
Stories of drunkenly getting caught in a washing line – much to another, unnamed, band’s disdain – and begging for tequila shots before their last song give the impression of your typical messy debauchery from a band with a lot, rightfully, to be pissed off about in this world. But Panic Shack’s secret live sauce is the intersection of well-rehearsed theatricality and climactic explosions of intermittent chaos. Or, to be less artsy-fartsy about it, just having a bloody good time with your best mates.
Panic Shack, Snayx + The Family Battenberg, Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Sat 18 Feb
words and photos HANNAH COLLINS
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