Starting the final lap of their 30th anniversary UK tour, Snuff gave an energetic and raucous set at London’s Electric Ballroom, bringing along USA’s Bad Cop/Bad Cop and London’s very own Spoilers for support.

Due to traffic coming in to London, we missed Spoilers and barely got there for the start of Bad Cop/Bad Cop. I was hoping to see Spoilers but I guess they must’ve made quite an impression since I saw a few people picking up some of their merch throughout the night.

Bad Cop/Bad Cop came on with a powerful set that managed to win over some of the crowd, many of which who, to be fair, are likely old enough to be their parents. I’ve always been on the fence about Bad Cop/Bad Cop, feeling that their music simply isn’t anything unique among punk rock. But I have to say that their live show was enough to make me reconsider picking up more of their music. This despite the poor showing from the sound technician who was unable or unwilling to get the vocals to a point where you could hear them clearly enough. Here’s an idea: if the audience can’t make out what the band is saying into their microphones in-between songs… something needs to be adjusted.

Having listened to Snuff since Demmamussabebonk, I’ve never gotten to see them live. At the start, Duncan Redmonds’ voice was a little gravely and seemed a bit lost. But like an old trusty jalopy, once he was warmed up it was full speed ahead. Let me say that the rumors of bantering and crowd participation are all too true. I guess having your lead singer stuck behind the drums, the rest of the band must keep up the interest, and they don’t fail to provide. From gesticulation, silliness, and shameless salesmanship of their new EP ‘No Biting”’(On sale in the back!), every second of it was a blast.

Being a 30th anniversary tour (as well as a pseudo-20th anniversary show for Demma) a majority of songs were old classics cut with a few songs off of the new EP, and very little was played from ‘Tweet Tweet My Lovely’ onward. Occasionally a lucky member of the audience got to dig into a box full of song titles, which determined the next one for Snuff to play (I'd be curious to see how robust that reservoir of songs in a box was).

As an American, there is a world of difference between knowing that “Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads” is a cover of the theme to a 70’s British sitcom, and hearing an entire crowd sing along to it. There have been few times when I couldn’t hear the band on stage for the crowd, and this was one. Double that for the finale of the night. When Snuff plays “Arsehole,” there isn’t a person in the audience who isn’t belting out along with them.

The two major downsides were that the gig ended so early (Snuff was done by 9:48pm), and that the venue hoped that the collective body heat of the audience would warm up the place…it never did, and was always chilly.

Overall the night was a success. Bad Cop/Bad Cop are young, energetic, and always adding new shows (next playing in Pomona, CA on March 19). Snuff doesn’t play much anymore outside of the UK or Japan, but if they come by your neighborhood I highly recommend stopping by to say hello.