It’s nearly thirty-five years since Madchester made its way into the general public’s conscience when the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays appeared on the same edition of Top of the Pops. Suddenly Greater Manchester became the centre of the UK music scene bringing with it a raft of iconic band t-shirts, no more than the rozzer baiting ‘cool as fuck’ cow one from Oldham’s Inspiral Carpets.

Harking back to 60s garage bands, Inspiral Carpets organ and distortion infused psychedelic rock complimented the more dance orientated elements of their contemporaries. One of the more successful bands of the period with a string of crowd pleasing hit singles and albums, the band have reformed and are back again playing to packed out venues and festivals across the country.

Tonight they are playing Sub89, once Reading’s premier venue for alternative music, and now a shadow of its former self, seemingly surviving on an endless diet of comedy nights and tiresome tribute bands, so it is good to see the place sold out for a night of original music.

Making a welcome return to the town and venue are Voodoo Radio, the father and daughter combo from Ulverston. I’ve seen the band numerous times, never getting bored of Paige’s energetic performance as she sings and jumps around her stand up drums whilst dad Tony thrashes out punk and hard rock rhythms on his guitar. Voodoo Radio Aug 24 It’s all about fun with Paige’s infectious Cumbrian personality between songs making songs such as ‘Slag Bank’ (about playing on the local slag heap) and ‘Basic Bitch’ even more enjoyable. You can’t help but like the band even when they announce that they had written the worst song in the world for a film soundtrack (‘Dog’) and named a new song on the way to the gig (‘One Way Ticket’). Finishing the set with the fantastic ‘Turn Out the Light’ about one-night stands, the duo is bound to have won over some more fans tonight. Voodoo Radio Aug 24 The current lineup of Inspiral Carpets includes original singer Stephen Holt (who left the band after the first few singles and just before the band’s peak), guitarist Graham Lambert along with long time (and equally iconic) organist Clint Boon. Kev Clark fills in on drums for the late Craig Gill, and continuing the family theme of the night, Clint’s son Oscar takes on bass duties. Inspiral Carpets Aug 24

Opening with ‘Generations’ from the wonderfully titled ‘Revenge of the Goldfish’ album, we are instantly treated to Clint’s glorious keys as Stephen sings to the joys of cross generational bonds (even more fitting tonight with the multiple family connections on stage). Early single tracks ‘Weakness’ and the wonderfully Stranglers like stomp of ‘Butterfly’ follow. The swoon some ‘Move’ marks the first song from debut album ‘Life’ and is closely followed by ‘She Comes in the Fall’ and ‘Directing Traffik’. Inspiral Carpets Aug 24

Stephen makes the most of the barrier and low lighting rig to reach into the crowd more than once and is clearly back in his element loving the interaction. Throughout the set the youngsters keep a solid rhythm section with Clint describing them as the proper musicians in the band and not the chancers who started out all those years ago. Graham’s effortless guitar equally matches Clint’s magic touch on the organ adding that little bit of sparkle to the songs. Inspiral Carpets Aug 24 ‘Two Worlds Collides’ slows the tempo down a bit before building up to its big organ dominated finale. ‘How It Should Be’ with its ‘ba ba ba ba’ harmonies and swirling keyboards is a joy. 2014’s ‘Let You Down’ featuring John Cooper Clarke’s monologue is a rare move away from the band’s heyday but still goes down well with the crowd. The fairground swing of ‘Find Out Why’ with its swirling and farting keys is a short and sweet highlight.

Inspiral Carpets Aug 24
The mellow ‘Uniform’ leads into the equally chilled ‘Sackville’ and then it’s ‘This is How it Feels’. The crowd erupts in unison singing along to the chorus continuing long after the band have stopped playing. ‘Keep the Circle Around’ continues the good vibes before the iconic tones of the late Mark E Smith reverberate out across the room. ‘I Want You’ remains a stone-cold classic with its relentless driving beat.

‘Commercial Rain’ enters more psychedelic realms and then the unmistakable organ intro to ‘Dragging Me Down’ brings the set to a suitably frenzied close.

Inspiral Carpets Aug 24
It’s not long before the band are back and they launch into ‘Joe’. The entire room seems to be moving now along with the funky drumbeat. The band’s cover of ? and the Mysterions’  garage anthem ’96 Tears’ maintains the momentum. If you are going to finish on a song, it might as well be ‘Saturn 5’ with countdown included. The crowd certainly think so as the already hot room dissolves into a sweaty haze. 

I never saw the band in their heyday, always being in the wrong place at the wrong time, so tonight more than made up for it. It’s always good seeing a band in a small and full venue, and both bands certainly did justice for Sub89.

Inspiral Carpets Aug 24