Bad Manners – Tuning Fork: April 16, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
50 years! Well the genesis was there in 1976, however their first live show wasn’t until 1978. But really, that’s just splitting hairs (pun intended) Bad Manners were a 100+ weeks feature in the British Singles Charts in the early 1980’s, with their take on two-tone and ska. While the onward decades have seen breakup, reformations, and multiple lineup changes, their legendary frontman Buster Bloodvessel continues the mahi as the only original member left in the onstage line up.
Buster Bloodvessel visits to Aotearoa and Australia have been frequent through the decades,, and I had seen them many times: including a show at The Kings Arms Tavern (legendary indeed) and before that I hold hazy memories of seeing Bad Manners in a rammed pub in Otautahi/Christchurch sometime in the 1990s. When Buster Bloodvessel is holding court in your town, a good time should be guaranteed for all.
No support, a DJ that finishes bang on 8pm, Crowd is a surprising mix, from 70/80s original Ska-Punks, to low-teens (it was an all-ages show tonight) and much in between.
Bad Manners
Bang on 8pm, Buster’s band are on stage, seven of them and the big man makes eight, a crowded stage. His band launch straight into warm up mode, Echo 4-2 I think, the toru/three brassmen are particularly animated, then the man himself appears to cheers, and This Is Ska, get the crowd moving, though as we are to discover through the night, Buster Bloodvessel does little Movin’, Groovin’ and Jumpin’, and his famous tongue tricks are rare spectacle
While the spirit is willing, it’s apparent after a handful of waiata, Lorraine, Walking On Sunshine, My Girl Lollipop, that while Buster Bloodvessel still has the words, the demeanour, and a voice, his flesh is letting the side down, gone are the animated trademarks. But still, the energy of his comrades and their ability to reach out and connect with their tangata is unmatched, making everyone feel like they are in a dancehall of old.
And it’s the band’s effusiveness that carries when Buster leaves the stage early on for a while, leaving the audience in a pickle until he returns, taking back control and taking the energized and adoring audience through a set of classic Bad Manners songs, including a few well-grooved cover: Can’t Take My Eyes, El Pussycat and Nee Nee Na Na Na Na Nu Nu. Though he is less animated these days, of course, the infectious groove of Northern Soul and two-tone tunes has the crowd doing much of the movin’ for him, while the (sprightly) band show no signs of slowing down.
The faux end has the audience in tears, but not for long as a trio of tunes come forth, including a Bad Manners standard-bearer Lip up Fatty, with the final encore Can Can, closing the po/night. Cheers erupt, and people don’t leave, hell it’s only 9.30PM!No complaints though, Bad Manners and Buster gave it their all. E rawe!
Simon Coffey
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