RANCID

20 Years ago former Operation Ivy singer Tim Armstrong got together with UK Subs session singer Lars Fredricksen to form a punk band named Rancid. Three short years later a geeky ginger kid called Gary found the album 'and Out Come The Wolves' in the now closed Sonic Sounds in Lincoln, and a relationship was born.

Bar their 1999 release there hasn't been a Rancid album that doesn't get listened to regularly in my house. Although AOCTW is potentially my favourite, the 1997 release Life Won't Wait has become a grower as well, fusing a more tuneful ska sound with a recognisable dirty punk. Every album is carried along by the unique and often maligned voice of Tim Armstrong, a punk singer / songwriter of immense magnitude.

Last night / this morning I finally got to see the band live, and I wasn't disappointed. From the opening track Roots Radical through an hour and a half of the greatest hits to close with Ruby Soho, the power and the passion of two decades tunes were delivered with the same attitude and penache they had the day they were written.

Sometimes you can see a band on an anniversary tour and the magic has been lost (I'm thinking Stone Roses or Happy Mondays), but Rancid are as fresh and as relevant as they ever were. Punk Rock is alive and well and will always have a place in our society. I genuinely feel last night that I witnessed one of the truly great punk rock bands strutting their stuff. The only surprise was (in my eyes) the emergence of Lars as the frontman. I'd always imagined through the tunes that Tim may be the focal point of the band (despite a quite famed shyness), but instead the whole show was carried along at breakneck pace by Lars - even to a point where he sung 'As Wicked' acoustic on his own whilst the band took a breather.

10 / 10 - The best gig I've ever been to.