Cardiff Coal Exchange 28/09/06

Tonight is the night for punk rock legends the Misfits to take the stage at Cardiff’s Coal Exchange. The band have been through many line-up changes but the line-up tonight is Robo on drums, Dez Cadena on guitar both of the equally as legendary Black Flag and the only remaining original Misfits member, Jerry Only on bass and vocals.  With a mixed age in crowd of excited fiends between 14 and 50, you can’t move without bumping into someone wearing a Misfits t-shirt.

The Misfits start off their evening of B-movie, horror influenced punk rock with ‘Halloween’ and continue to churn out tune after tune, harder and faster than on the records.  They play classics like  ‘Attitude’ ‘Teenagers from Mars’ ‘Last Caress‘ ‘Hybrid Moments’ and ‘Die Die my Darling’ which puts the crowd in the palm of their hands as they sing-along, aswell as tracks off the newer albums ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Famous monsters’.  A version of Black Flag’s ‘Six Pack’ also went down well.

Once the Misfits left the stage, Jerry Only and Dez Cadena returned, joined by Marky Ramone, drummer of the Ramones and Voivod guitarist Ivan Julian for their new project titled ‘Osaka Popstar the American Legends of Punk. They run through versions of Ramones and Richard Hell songs in a fashion that all seemed a bit too Punk Rock kari-oki for me.

The atmosphere was great and at times felt like a fancy dress party with the ‘fiend club’ in face paint and Misfits fringes.  It was a fun show and the night belonged to the Misfits rather than Osaka Popstar.  The sound at the Coal Exchange was good and left my ears ringing for hours afterwards, just like you would expect from a Misfits show.  If you have ever been a fan of the Misfits and you get the chance to catch a date of this tour then it’s definitely worth a look.

by Dale Tucker