Sleaford Mods - Live at Bristol o2 Academy - 1st December 2021

Fifteen years ago, the very notion of a Sleaford Mods gig would have been dismissed.

Two middle-aged men – one who simply presses play on his laptop as the other shouts tirades into his mic, railing against the issues of the world that irk and enrage him – is a tough sell. Even writing it down, the concept seems laughable (and it also makes them incredibly difficult to review, so please bear that in mind as you read on).

A decade on, you either get it or you don’t, but increasingly more people are getting it. Their latest and eleventh album, Spare Ribs, cracked the Top 5 of the UK chart this year, and the duo arrive in Bristol a few days after an arena gig in their native Nottingham.

Of course, we operate in a very different society than that of 2007 (the year in which Sleaford Mods released their debut album). This was pre-financial crash, pre-Brexit, pre-COVID, and there was (seemingly) much less to rail against.

Which poses a question: we now have the evidence that the duo were unquestionably ahead of their time (with their fundamental approach having changed little), but does genius lie beneath the angry, knowingly-difficult-yet-carefree veneer? It can’t be dismissed as something for the youth, with the average age of those in attendance being the wrong side of 40, many probably feeling that Jason Williamson speaks on their behalf.

https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2021/12/sleaford-mods-live-bristol/