Turbonegro + Juliette & The Licks - Koko, London. 30/11/05.

This gig had caused a fair bit of excitement within the Portsmouth Turbojugend as our esteemed president Johnny 'Spankmaster' H. had been enlisted by Turbonegro to be soundman for the European tour and we know he likes it loud so we all ventured up for this event arriving in time for a few pints in the pub round the corner where we eyed up Happy Tom and drummer Chris Summers before Johnny joined us and informed the excited rabble that the sound in Koko was shit before Tom and Chris came over to say Hi which made us jugends very happy.

Of course, the venue is awash with denim clad recruits drinking the very expensive beer, £4 for a can of cider...what is that all about? We have the pleasant task of watching Juliette & The Licks first, fronted by 'film star' Juliette Lewis who makes a damn fine rock vocalist kitted out in a skin hugging white outfit and letting rip with some meaty vocals and rock theatrics. The band are solid if a little unspectacular but they provide some decent rock n roll with a fist full of tunes and lets face it, most of us are just watching Juliette anyway as she whirls around the stage headbanging and throwing herself into the crowd. It's a decent set that keeps the denim demons happy for 45 minutes and they get a good reception.

I manage to get to the second row for the start of Turbonegro, right in front of Euroboy and Pal Pot with his knackered keyboard and the sound is crystal clear, don't know what Johnny was worried about! Now, I have no idea what order any of the songs came in but our beloved band delivered a set of old and recent classics, each one a chant a long anthem fuelled by the power of rock n roll death punk, several hundred denim clad brothers and sisters sweating and singing everyword as Uncle Hank conducts from the stage, a fine figure of a man. As if meeting Tom & Chris wasn't enough I get to support a Euroboy foot as he does his crowd solo and I'm a happy little Jugend tonight. It really doesn't matter what songs are played at the end of the day as this is about a coming together of like minded souls who want to have a damn fine night out listening to decent rock n roll music with one of the best live bands out there. It goes without saying that the night ends with everyone singing "I got erection" as loud as possible before the Greek dancing kicks in to clear the pit. A magnificent night of denim action from the best band in the world right now...well, according to me anyway and my fellow Jugends and you don't want to argue with that.