Live Review: Blondie, The Stranglers & The Saints

It's protocol to have a local band opening for big international acts, so on a bill purporting to be a collection of old-school punk survivors, who could possibly be more apt for the occasion than The Saints, even if the output of their early incarnation is no longer part of the equation. Frontman Chris Bailey is still entertainingly bombastic and churning out quality songs, new tracks like Duty from recent album King Of The Sun stacking up nicely against classics such as Just Like Fire Would.

Seminal UK outfit The Stranglers have also survived serious line-up changes over the journey, but the pairing of Jean-Jacques Burnel and Baz Warne out front is still a fearsome proposition, clad in black and dripping with attitude. The Raven and Hanging Around make early appearances, but the languid intro to Golden Brown stops everyone in their tracks and proves to be the evening's first true highlight, followed quickly by the equally well-received Always The Sun and then Peaches and Mercury Rising hot on their heels. There's a polemic to nearly everything they offer but couched in solid songs it never becomes overbearing, and they finish with a stomping cover of The Kink's All Day And All Of The Night, which primes the excited crowd perfectly.

It's dark now as New York punk/new wave legends Blondie take to the stage, all eyes on the irrepressible sunglass-clad platinum blonde Debbie Harry, who bounds into the fray and kicks off with Dreaming, before metronomic drummer Clem Burke – his kit behind a perspex screen – counts in their trademark cover of The Nerves' Hanging On The Telephone and the hill goes berserk, singing along with complete gusto. Harry has clearly aged – time will do that – but still emits a confident allure, comfortably taking the spotlight as founding guitarist Chris Stein holds the group, rounded out by three talented newbs, together from a musical perspective. Well-known tunes like Union City and the impossibly sultry Call Me keep all and sundry happy until they begin their version of The Paragons' The Tide Is High and the scene is utterly stolen by the entrance of The Stranglers in the chorus line, obviously milking the climax of the massive world tour. Soon enough the pioneering rap of Atomic segues into a rambunctious version of the Beastie Boys' (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!) and they finish the set with the pep-tastic One Way Or Another. The crowd is rewarded with an encore version of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Relax and a run through of Heart Of Glass to complete a fun romp down memory lane by three bands who left a pretty big imprint on the global stage.