X Ray Spex Redcar Coatham Bowl 23rd April 1978
The night the Coatham Bowl turned Dayglo.
Poly Styrene exploded onto the stage; a bundle of crazy youthful energy. Art-I-Ficial !! Off we went, the crowd jumping and pogoing along to the loud raucous noise. A manic hippy looking guy with long hair ran to the front of the stage, squeezing discordant noises from his sax. Poly screamed into the mike, shook her head, swung her dreads around and around, and lost herself in a childish whirling dance. The pace, the noise and the music were relentless. Identity !! ……Warrior in Woolworths (my favourite)….They played many of the tracks which would make their classic debut Germ Free Adolescents so great. X Ray Spex were joyous, hectic, amateur, funny, bright and loud. They were also amazing and one of the most fun acts to emerge from punk. Their songs each had a message, but not in the serious gloomy way of many of the bands of the time. Poly was a one-off and the songs all had catchy hooks and were 100% pure pop. They crashed through Oh Bondage! Up Yours! And then they were gone, back to the planet Plastic, from whence they came. Wonderful.
Support came from local Teesside punk rockers Britzkrieg Bop.
Setlist (something like): Art-I-Ficial; Obsessed With You; Identity; Let’s Submerge; Plastic Bag; I Live Off You; I Am a Poseur; Genetic Engineering; I Am a Cliche; The Day the World Turned Dayglo; Warrior in Woolworths; Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
RIP Poly Styrene
20 Feb
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by Rockin' Brian on February 22, 2015 at 9:01 pm
I saw X Ray Spex exactly one week after this, they were the opening act at the Anti Nazi League rally in Victoria Park Hackney.
Posted by vintagerock on February 23, 2015 at 7:16 am
Wow Brian I bet that was a great gig Best wishes Peter
Posted by Steve W on April 4, 2016 at 3:51 pm
A fantastic gig. I was 15 and some how managed to get in (it was licensed so should have be 18+). One of many great gigs at The Bowl in that period. Including Iggy Pop!!! Iggy in Redcar, still hard believe!
Posted by vintagerock on April 4, 2016 at 3:54 pm
Happy days Steve Cheers Peter