Live review: GBH, MDC, and Niis live at Sanctuary Detroit

Detroit MI – 13 May 2023

The old geezers in GBH and MDC incite a rabid crowd in Motown.

May is in full swing and bands are getting knocked off the bucket list left and right. Just eight days after seeing Channel 3 in Chicago, I headed east to Detroit to see English legends GBH. I had tickets for the same GBH/MDC lineup in 2020, before the world came grinding to a halt. While I’m not able to go to Punk Rock Bowling this year, I was able to take advantage of a couple of the bands touring their way from the East Coast to Las Vegas. The sold out GBH/MDC show was at Sanctuary Detroit in Hamtramck, MI.

*(Bracketed comments by Addy.)

My youngest daughter, Addy, is in driver’s training and is in need of road hours (whoop whoop), so I let her drive most of three hours each way. It was also her first punk show, so it was fun to watch her take it all in. It was also my first time at Sanctuary Detroit, and it did not disappoint. It was dank and dark, and the epitome of what a dive bar venue should be like. It’s a long, thin room with the bar on the right, that opens up near the stage in the back.(I was very confused that it was supposed to hold 300.) 

Los Angeles based Niis opened the show. It’s not entirely clear if Niis is the singer, or the whole band. She was kind of an odd fit, but her half hour was well received by the older, mostly male audience. She opened the show in a trench coat before stripping down to a studded leather bikini. She mostly screamed, while the band behind her alternated between playing straight up hardcore and noisy post-punk. The songs had a strong feminist bent (my personal favorite part), and were a combination of sex appeal and rage. At her best, Niis gave me Wendy O Williams and even Poly Styrene vibes. 

Addy observed that everybody in the crowd was moving to the music, but nobody was smiling. (It was pretty weird, not gonna lie.) I hadn’t noticed. Maybe nobody was smiling because they were in Detroit. Or maybe we were just too busy ogling. 

MDC have been American hardore standard bearers for more than four decades. I love their 40 year old records, but last time I saw them I thought they were getting a little long in the tooth. A youth injection via a couple of newer members seems to have put a bit of pep back in their step. As soon as they opened with “Millions of Dead Cops”, the crowd was in a frenzy. I’d forgotten how violent those Motor City pits can get. The oldsters would tire themselves out after 10 minutes or so, but then some fresh 300 pound monster would jump in and start throwing people around, and the whole process would start again. I’m not a small person, but I didn’t want anything to do with it. (I had never seen anything like it. That was human bumper cars, not dancing)

Founding frontman and sole OG member Dave Dictor was jovial as ever throughout their 45 minutes. He wears his hair long, and his face shows plenty of well earned wrinkles. Most songs got an introduction, and occasionally a background story. His tendency to mumble didn’t do much to deter people’s enthusiasm for classics like “Dick For Brains”, “Corporate Deathburger”, “Business on Parade” and “Chicken Squawk”. Sophie from The Elected Officials helped sing a few songs and really cranked the intensity up a notch or two. “John Wayne Was a Nazi”, “Dead Cops/America’s So Straight” and “I Hate Work” made for a strong conclusion.

Addy seemed to generally enjoy Dictor’s leftist sloganeering. She did say she wanted to have a civil debate with him about whether or not ALL cops really needed to die. (Murder is just not gonna do it, man.) 

It didn’t take long for UK82 legends GBH to get started, and the pit was back in full force. Grievous Bodily Harm, indeed. They didn’t speak much between songs, instead blasting through them one after another. The tour was in celebration of the 40th anniversaries of their City Baby LPs, City Baby Attacked By Rats from1982 and City Baby’s Revenge from1983. Needless to say, they played a bunch of songs from those records. “Time Bomb”, Sick Boy, “Maniac”, Bellend Bop”, Boston Babies”, “Drugs Party in 526” and “I Am the Hunted” all packed a mighty punch. 

Addy was not very into GBH. About a half hour into their 70 minute set she was done people watching, and we lost her to her phone. In her defense, they probably could have trimmed 10 minutes of fat. (I found much more entertainment on Twitter. Also, someone spilled their rum and Coke on me.)

GBH are now in their 60s, but they don’t play like it. Singer Colin Abrahall also doesn’t look like it, and still has the blond spikey hair of his youth. The rest of them didn’t have much hair between them (like you do!, #roasted), but they still had their intensity. The working class lads from Birmingham, the Detroit of England, really connected with the blue collar audience. “City Baby Attacked By Rats” and “City Baby’s Revenge” wrapped up the regular set. They briefly left the stage before coming back with a two song encore. “Liquid Paradise” was too long, but they redeemed themselves with Motorhead’s “Bomber”. It was a great ending to another great night of old school punk.

Confessions of a merch whore: I got a round GBH City Baby Returns patch and a biography by the bass player, Ross Lomas, called City Baby: Surviving in Leather, Bristles, Studs, Punk Rock and GBH. I got a big square MDC patch of the first LP cover too. Later I grabbed an MDC backpatch that was the first album cover with all the cops replaced by Chief Clancy Wiggum. If you know, you know.