Ugly Kid Joe Live
Ugly Kid Joe show no sign of slowing down as they rolled into London for a weekend residency at Camden’s Underworld, they even sold-out Saturday night.
The crowd were buzzing as they eagerly awaited Whitfield Crane and co to take to the stage; which they soon did and wasted little time in launching into Neighbor causing rapturous applause before the crowd joined in for a sing-along.
Having just released their new album Uglier Than They Used To Be a few new songs were thrown into the set, all of which received a warm reaction but those reactions were not on par with the response older tracks VIP and the smash hit Cats In The Cradle received. The band were on point and tight throughout, Crane’s vocals sound as good today as they ever did; although he appeared much calmer on stage, more static, but perhaps because the band were performing on a small stage.
Saturday’s crowd were in for a treat as Skindred drummer Arya Goggin replaced UKJ drummer Zac Morris for a song; whilst this seemed to be a thrill for the majority of the crowd, I was distressed to see Morris leave - one because he is an awesome drummer, but mainly because he was ripped and decided to play their set in nothing but his undies.
Of course, the band’s biggest hit Everything About You was saved for their encore and became their set’s closing track after Ugly Kid Joe decided to drop their staple closer; Ace Of Spades from the set for an unknown reason.
UKJ were a lot of fun to watch, they sounded great and appeared truly humbled to be onstage and have such a warm and loyal group of people watching them. Ugly Kid Joe prove that you can’t write old bands off.