Ok so my last review from the Barn mentioned it’s soon to be closing its doors, well with several club nights still to go this evening showed when it comes to live music there’s still life in the old dog yet as Inner Terrestrials made a welcome return to Portsmouth.
Due to beer commitments elsewhere I missed regular Barn reprobates and punk regulars Johnny L and Second Hand Citizens performances, but you can’t do it all and as such Ryan Harvey was on stage when I arrived.
Hailing all the way from Baltimore USA, Ryan Harvey is over visiting friends and working on some new recordings, whilst making the most of the opportunity by playing a handful of shows along the way – the first of which being tonight’s performance at the Milton Arms Barn.
With plenty of unplugged protest songs, focussing on all things personal along with those wider issues Ryan made his mark as social activist and although there was the usual pet hate of mine with people talking over the acoustic artist, he went down pretty well amongst the masses and it was a real shame to have missed the start of his set.
Something else I missed was the end of year punk weekender billed as “Punch Winter in the Face” at one of the cities other smaller venues, which amongst others featured Welsh act Not Since the Accident, who having presumably made a good impression had their next Pompey gig going on this evening ahead of the Inner Terrestrials.
I have to say I’m not convinced by the band name and although I personally was longing for the headliners Not Since the Accident definitely got the crowd going with a mosh pit forming down the front as they played their chaotic punk rock.
Headlining the night though were London based Inner Terrestrials, showing how it’s done with a mixture of dub, ska and punk anarchy. Having been around for the past twenty odd years it had still been a while since I had seen these guys and it was well worth the wait and the packed venue were certainly up for it with something of a buzz about the place.
It did feel like a bit of a home coming as Inner Terrestrials have gained a number of fans locally over the years and the band provided the audience with not only a large dose of skanking and anti-political rants, but a few dubbier moments helping to bring the anarchists and the hippies together as one.
It wouldn’t be a punk gig though if everything ran completely to plan and as the drummer managed to break his bass drum, luckily the set was almost over leaving the only disappointment being that whereby all good things must come to end… and as for the Barn, Jay Terrestrial summed it up best for if it is indeed soon to be the end of the Barn as we know it, then we’ll just have to find ourselves another venue.
