Viagra Boys / Rock City / Nottingham

Jan 21

Jan 21 Viagra Boys / Rock City / Nottingham

Our first trip to Rock City of 2023, and it’s a crisp frosty trip into town. Handshakes and hugs all round and another round of ‘Happy New Years’ and it’s off into the main hall to warm up.

In support tonight we have a band called Fat Dog. I’d not heard of them before so this was hopefully going to be a nice surprise. I headed into the pit alone, camera in hand ready. Fat Dog are a five piece consisting of guitars, drums, sax and keys. I’m not quite sure if I can categorise them really. Definitely somewhat post-punk, their sound is a delightful surprise, and a mix of all sorts of influence. Half way through the set was a section with a heavily SKA influenced feel to it and another section having a jazz feel. I really enjoyed their use of the sax, which was clear and dominant in their soundscape.

For those that arrived early, Fat Dog were a real treat. Full of energy it got the Rock City crowd going ready for the headliners. I’d love to see Fat Dog again, doing a longer set. Creative, engaging and thoroughly entertaining.

With an early curfew (club night) the stage is cleared quickly in readiness for the post-punk / dance-punk Vaigra Boys from Stockholm. Formed in Stockholm in 2015, the band have released three albums from their 2018 debut “Street Worms”, through 2021’s “Welfare Jazz” and their most recent, and critically acclaimed release “Cave World” in 2022.

Viagra Boys are made up of Sebastian Murphy (vocals), Henrik Höckert (bass), Tor Sjödén (drums),

Oscar Carls (saxophone & guitar), Elias Jungqvist (keyboards) and Linus Hillborg (guitar).

Amazingly I find myself almost alone in the pit with just the venues photographer for company (more handshakes and Happy New Years). Considering it’s a sell out, I was surprised at the lack of photographers. Oh well, more elbow room I guess !

The lights dimmed, and the crowd screamed as the band took to the stage one by one and they launched into the opening track It Ain’t Enough (Cave World Deluxe 2023). Right from the off, the energy and chaos levels are off the scale, as Oscar’s sax squeals and screams, but the band don’t miss a beat. As you’d expect, the set is dominated by tracks from their latest album “Cave World” and next up is a great example of their craft in Ain’t No Thief. A song about someone called out for having or wearing things others think are theirs, and each time he retorts with wild excuses and explanations. Is he a thief or not ?

It doesn’t take long for Murphy to lose the tracksuit top and strip down to expose his extense torso tattoo collection, as the opening tones of Punkrock Loser immediately has the crowd shouting and singing along, to it’s slow drawn out vocal delivery as Murphy prowls the stage stepping on the monitors.

An extended version of the sax-driven track Cold Play is followed by Creepy Crawlers. This track sits in the middle of the latest album and is a (mainly) spoken piece aimed squarely, and ridiculing the rise of conspiracy theory followers. Not having seen them live before I was surprised at it’s inclusion, but it actually works brilliantly. Murphys frantic style adds to the feel as he explains how unvaxed children and turned into Adrenochrome to keep the powerful youthful. It’s crazy, but delivers its message so well in how it’s delivered.

The main set ends with three outstanding tracks with Troglodyte (from Cave World 2022), the anthemic Sports (from Street Worms 2018) and finally Shrip Shack (from their debut Street Worms 2018). One thing you can guarantee from a Viagra Boys show is chaos. As you’d expect from a post-punk band they are loud, fast and abrasive, but with that, there is a finesse to their sound. They come over as having a “we’re simply doing our thing and f&*k what anyone thinks” attitude but they somehow balance that with a catchy, dance like sound….. so utterly brilliantly.

The band return for a three song encore of Return to Monke (Cave World 2022), Liquids (Consistency of Energy EP 2016) and Worms (Street Worms 2018). The crowd are going wild, loving every second of it.

A downside of the Viagra Boys, is that they can make an hour+ set go so quick ! Tonight was the first night on this leg of the tour but there was no rustiness. The musicianship was spot on and the sold-out crowd loved every single moment of it. Very few bands are capable of presenting the kind of live sets Viagra Boys do. I don’t think I have the words to truly do justice to their swagger and energy on stage.

Quite frankly, although it’s only mid-January, 2023 is going to be hard pushed to better this one, but of course…. We’re going to keep going to shows and see if we can !

Set List

It Ain’t Enough (Cave World Deluxe 2023)

Ain’t No Thief (Cave World 2022)

Ain’t Nice (Welfare Jazz 2021)

Punkrock Loser (Cave World 2022)

Baby Criminal (Cave World 2022)

Slow Learner (Street Worms 2018)

Big Boy (Cave World 2022)

Cold Play (Welfate Jazz 2021)

Creepy Crawlers (Cave World 2022)

The Cognitive Trade-Off Hypothesis (Cave World 2022)

Troglodyte (Cave World 2022)