Seeing these saggy old rock and roll legends always makes me feel weird. It’s kind of like hanging out with your boyfriends dad…you know, a tiny bit of you is attracted to him ‘cause he kind of looks and acts like the guy you’re having sex with but at the same time you feel wrong and dirty and gross because he’s wrinkly and old and has a moustache.

Well that’s how I felt seeing Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg anyway. I rocked up at the Corner pretty excited to be seeing Marky ‘fucking’ Ramone, as everyone seems to refer to him nowadays. He looks pretty much exactly the same as he does on all those Ramones covers, same sulky stare, same famous black hair cut (Is it a wig??) And he was drumming along to most all my favourite songs which was kind of special.

But I felt kind of wrong being there. Because let’s face it, there’s only so much the one time drummer from one of your best bands can do to bring credibility to the songs being played. There was no escaping that this is a cover band, and that Marky Ramones Blitzkrieg are trading off nostalgia – something that doesn’t sit so well with the whole punk thing.

It’s not that Marky or his band were sloppy or boring or anything. And I mean, kudos for them (and especially to Marky) keeping up the energy for an entire hour of back to back songs. And the band members were very entertaining. The oldish dude with bleached hair on guitar was going off, the crazy skinny chick on bass had some pretty awesome facial expressions going, and the singer!

Oh the singer! His name is Michale Graves and he did vocals for the Misfits at one stage. He’s such a weird performer. Wearing the requisite black leathers and crazy haircut, he looked like a speedfreak chewing his jaw off. He had the crooning kind of Elvis voice so familiar from the Misfits, but the thing that made it really odd was his boyband moves. No shit, this guy mimed out the lyrics to all the Ramones songs like a presenter on Playschool. Like at one stage they played Poison Heart and I Believe In Miracles one after the other. He was doing little walky fingers for ‘walk’ and pointing to himself and the crowd for ‘you and me’ and clutching his heart at any reference to hearts.

He was doing it the whole set. It was so cheesy! It was actually hilarious. Looking back now maybe it was ironic but I’m pretty sure he was just genuinely caught up in the emotion. But the guy could really sing. He was a pretty rad dancer too, when he got away from the song lyrics.

I really don’t want to bag Marky’s Blitzkreig tour out too much because you know, what did I expect?? And anyway I had fun and the other people had fun and anyway we were, as Michale Graves astutely pointed ‘in a room with Marky ‘fucking’ Ramone!’

But I kept wondering if Marky feels sad to be playing songs by these guys he knew who are all dead at pretty young ages. And I felt bad that Marky was part of one of the most influential bands of all time and he’s playing the pokey Corner to a smallish crowd. And I felt kind of bad for all the people in the audience who are still trying to live the dream. Again it’s that whole cringey mix of punk and nostalgia. You know those guys who are still trying to rebel in exactly the same way the dudes in the eighties rebelled, with mowhawks and exploited patches and badges and denim jackets with the sleeves ripped off. Except they get all their stuff at Smokedreams. And a lot of them have nerdy prescription glasses. It must suck trying to live in another decade.

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