 Tonight saw me head to the Town Hall in Cheltenham
for my second show there in a week, it’s
quite funny really that I haven’t been there
for years and then suddenly I am there two days
in a row for two totally different gigs, when
we walked through the doors tonight I noticed
that things were a lot different in the way that
it was a professional gig with plenty of security
a main front barrier keeping the crowd away from
the stage and the venue was pretty damn packed
with a big age group ranging from 8 to 70 I would
say.
 The first support band tonight was Hobo Jones
And The Junkyard Dogs, when we walked in the band
were playing their last song with was a gypsy
punk rendition of ‘Drunken Sailor’
and I have to say it sounded amazing, the band
seemed to be having a lot of fun on stage and
the crowd were moving along to the song nicely,
the thing that I liked best about Hobo Jones was
the fact that they used such a random assortment
of instruments such as a Washboard and the funkiest
looking bass I have seen in a long time. I really
wish I got to the venue a bit earlier so I could
see more of these guys but they are defiantly
on my list for bands to check out in the near
future.
 There was a short 15 minute break in-between
bands, so during this time we went off to get
a drink in the very packed out bar, by the time
we had our drink in our hand it was time to go
back to the main room to get our places to watch
Pama International.
Now I remember Pama International from back in
2001 when they were signed to Jamdown Records,
but I have never managed to hear any of their
songs or see them live until now and I have to
say it was a really pleasing experience, Pama
International took to the stage all dressed up
really well in either suits or shirts, with only
the drummer as bassist wearing beanie hats but
still looking pimped up in their shirts.
 Know I don’t know any Pama International
songs at all but they play a mixed sound that
crosses reggae, jazz and ska together, the band
seemed to be in their element on stage, all extremely
happy and giving their performance 100%, front
man Finny marched across the stage which such
groove on a number of occasions, trumpet player
Gary and saxophone player Andy totally looked
the part in their suits and moved on stage like
true jazz musicians, the band played a good 40minute
set and had the crowd moving the whole time.
It was a 20 minute break from when Pama International
finished to when the Levellers were due to take
to the stage so we headed off for another drink
and then came back waiting patiently in the room
for the Levellers to take to the stage which they
did minutes later and in such a powerful way.
The band started with ‘Life Less Ordinary’
taking to the stage with such a strong powerful
sound and one of the biggest lightshows I have
seen at a gig in a long time, the Levellers wasted
no time and rocked out solidly for near one and
an half hours.
 The biggest highlight for me was hearing ‘Beautiful
Day’, the song was the fifth song they played
as is the first song that I ever took notice of
by the Levellers all those years ago, it wasn’t
just me who seemed happy to hear the song as pretty
much everyone in the town hall tonight was signing
along and jumping up and down like lunatics.
The Levellers played many new songs such as ‘Before
The End’, Death Loves Youth’, ‘Eyes
Wide’, ‘Cholera Well’ and ‘Burn
America, Burn’ with the fans going mad to
each and every song which shows that their fans
appreciate their new songs as much as they do
their old.
Loads of old fan favourites were played as well
with ‘Dance Before The Storm’ being
the song that people seemed to love the most,
the last song the Levellers played was ‘Cholera
Well’, but they then came back for that
en-core that every band plays, which they then
went on and played ‘World Freak Show’,
‘Come On’ and ‘England’
which got the majority of the crowd bouncing across
the room, the Levellers then left the stage to
then come back and play their second en-core which
consisted of ‘Liberty’ and during
 this song mayhem happened, one person got carried
out after fainting and then another person got
on her boyfriends shoulders whipped her top off
and randomly started spinning around with her
tits out and with many borderline sex pests reaching
for their camera phones to take snaps, this was
all clear proof that everyone was having fun at
tonight’s show, maybe some having more fun
than other though.
This was the first time I have ever seen the
Levellers live and I have to say that I was majorly
impressed and will defiantly be checking them
out live again, they may look like they have past
it but they have so much energy and could easily
give a lot of the younger generation alternative
bands a run for their money.
Hobo Jones And The Junkyard Dogs – 3/5
Pama international – 4/5
The Levellers 5/5
Review By Trigger |
