Live Review: Bad Manners, Area-7, Fistful Of Trojans

Bald, ageing heads, cherry-red Doc Martens and Fred Perry polo tops were in demand as seminal Two Tone ska band Bad Manners played at The Gov on Friday night. Bad Manners have been long-lived, over 40 years kicking to be exact, skanking their way through the waves of ska music and culture emanating from the UK since the mid-'70s. Led by eccentric frontman Douglas Trendle (aka Buster Bloodvessel), Bad Manners have been the original larrikins of the movement, with songs of laddish laughter and self-deprecating humour.

The mainly British Perry Boy/skinhead-oriented crowd had been warmed up well, as the amber fluid flowed freely and Adelaide favourite ska sons Fistful Of Trojans took to the stage. Tight, loud and oozing a reggae/ska rhythm, they played to a quickly filling room covering numbers such as The Beatles' Don't Let Me Down and The English Beat's Rough Rider to the applause of the audience.

After a short break in the proceedings, Melbourne band Area-7 hit the stage with an abundance of energy. Complete with flame flickering lead guitarist Charles "Chucky T" Thompson and a brass section they have the crowd shuffling their feet as they pump out favourites such as Second Class Citizen and No Logic. A couple of diehard fans filter to the front of the stage where their obvious exuberance and wayward rhythmic gesticulations keep the remaining throngs at bay.

Warmed up in chorus by Madness' One Step Beyond played loud by the house DJ, the now frenzied sea of Docs, pork-pie hats and tartan-checkered Harrington jackets are now chanting "You Fat Bastard! You Fat Bastard!"

Bad Manners re-enter one by one, crammed into the small stage real estate allotted to all seven members.There is an almighty cheer and Bloodvessel steps out, the self-appointed Fat Bastard himself, dressed in a faux leopard skin jacket, black lace-up Cons and what looks to be silk boxer shorts, the kind you'd find in a ring.

Bad Manners favourites come thick and thin with This Is Ska, My Girl Lollipop, and a deft cover of Frankie Valli's Can't Take My Eyes Off You to keep the old skinhead guard misty-eyed - if not only for the romper stomping dance moves.

The ageing crowd are paid-up members of a once youth subculture, steeped in underclass angst and aggression, brought together by a common love of Jamaican reggae and a Mod ethos - as quoted by The Who's manager Pete Meaden, "clean living under difficult circumstances". Bad Manners are what they are here to see and as the band finishes their encore a night of reggae, ska and skanking is complete and the crowd are not disappointed.