Another decade, another reunion and the ‘69’ in Sham’s name begins to look like the number of years they’ve been together.
But their unique melding of The Ramones’ superchug, terrace chants and, if we’re honest, music hall (Hurry Up Harry is a lost Dan Leno singalong) changed punk forever, and if they’d been to Oxford, they’d be a seen as a national treasure. So let’s celebrate this latest – the inevitable re‐recorded set of Sham 69 classics like Borstal Breakout and If The Kids Are United with new songs like the splendidly‐named Asbo Sportsday – in the spirit it’s intended.
They are in fact excellent, spirited versions, with a spring in their pogo, and a visit to a contemporary Sham gig – even with elderly skinheads in the audience trying to remember what they were so angry about – might well be worth it.
