The Exploited & Certified

I had a feeling this gig wasnt going to be as good as i expected because earlier in the day i had been told that Converge were playing at the same venue except that Converge were downstairs and Exploited were upstairs.

I prefer being downstairs at the Barfly in Glasgow because it has a real dark rough punk feel to it. To my surprise when we (me and the wife) got there, The Exploited were playing downstairs and all the screamo/hardcore kids were upstairs. Result.

Anyway, the gig seemed to take an eternity to kick off, 5 minutes or so before it started it felt empty. The Lurkers were playing across the road at glasgow rockers, i thought that this was going to affect the crowd but as the gig kicked off the place filled out very nicely.

This was the second time i had seen Certified, a 80's street style punk band from Nottinghman i think.

the first time was with Discharge at the same venue, i loved them that night, and again i thought they were fantastic. I dont own any of there records, not frmom lack of trying though, the first time i saw them i was skint so couldnt get one, this time i couldnt see anyone seeling them. Although i am 100% sure someone was seeling them somewhere.

Certfied are fast and absolutely furious, very similar to the Exploited and Discharge, they got the crowd going, and like last time i saw them, they were fantastic. I'll be searching for there site in order to buy a record after writing this review.

The Exploited were up next. They entered the stage with the usual swagger, and then BOOM, straight into some of there classic punk tunes.

Let's Start A War was a blitzering rage, i actually think this band sound 100 times better now than they have ever done. the sound is razor sharp and Wattie's vocals are even angrier.

My personal favoutite was Chaos Is My Life, an absolute belter of a tune, the crowd went mental, a few guys managed to get on stage and assist with the backing vocals, including Sean from Cartified. Immense.

Cop Cars was another tune that firmly got the crowd going, mohawks fluttering in the pit, its a nice sight.

The gig, in my opinion, had a good mixture of younger people and older people, the odler punks could certainly teach us younger ones a thing or two about drinking and having a good time at a gig.

Unfotunately i had to leve 15minutes before the end and ultimatley dont know if they played two of my other favourite exploited songs 'Psycho' and 'Punks not Dead' although im sure they would have saved the later for the grand finale.

Best gig i have been to in a while, thanks to certified and The Exploited.