The intimate setting of The Mercury Lounge was the perfect venue for this stripped down Stranglers show. OK, not really a Stranglers show but Hugh, the long time Stranglers front man played primarily Strangler songs with a peppering of solo material. The show was actually two shows. The first set was a rotation of Stranglers songs and solo. The second set was the complete first Stranglers album Rattus Norvegicus.
We got there early and we were fortunate enough to be right upfront. The first thing we noticed was no set up for keyboard. Stranglers with no keyboard? Keyboardist Dave Greenfield's sound was signature for The Stranglers. We were all ready to lower our expectations. The three piece band came out. The first thing I noticed was the drummer was Clem Burke of Blondie. Clem was never up there with my favorite drummers but still pretty cool from a fan perspective.
A count off and then in perfect sync the Bass, drums and guitar bang out the intro for Nice and Sleazy from The Stranglers Black and White album. In those first few seconds, any fears of this show being a disappointment were obliterated. Song after song, this three piece delivered. Steve Fishman on bass was the next best thing to Jean-Jacques Burnel, playing almost verbatim. Not an easy task. Hugh was in perfect form on guitar, vocals and performance. I have to say the biggest surprise for me was Clem Burke. He was a powerhouse on drums. He absolutely blew me away. I had no idea he could play drums with such force and style. He immediately rose through he ranks as being one of the best drummers I have ever seen.
By the time we were into the second set, I had forgotten all about the lacking of keyboards. I realized that for The Stranglers, the keyboard was the icing on the cake but without it, it is still some pretty damn good cake.