Last Updated on April 6, 2025
A loud, energetic love letter to a pivotal moment in musical history
Perched somewhere between a jukebox musical and a covers night, Punk Off (formerly titled Pretty Vacant) is a nostalgic, energetic and unapologetically loud look back at the origins, context and influence of punk music. Featuring a cracking 4-piece band with some impressively authentic vocals, it successfully evokes the energy and music of a pivotal moment in time but never quite succeeds at achieving its full potential.
In a world where musicians can launch careers from the comfort of their bedrooms via TikTok, it is increasingly hard to imagine an explosive musical genre arising organically from social upheaval and youthful disaffection rather than from commercial aspirations. But in the mid-1970s 1970s political discontent, economic inequality, lack of respect for authority, and social alienation gave birth to a musical revolution known as punk rock. And a revolution it certainly was – for the first time, there seemed to be no barrier to entry into the music scene. With its rejection of commercialisation and the slick production values of glam rock, punk did not require musicians to be good at playing their instruments or even have great vocal ability – it was their anger, their energy and having something to say (loudly!) that counted more than anything else. And it is this loud, confrontational energy that Punk Off seeks to bring to the stage.
Created and directed by Ged Graham, Punk Off provides a whistle-stop tour of punk’s beginnings and celebrates the originators and trailblazers of a movement which had and continues to have profound effects on music and fashion. I saw the show at the Dominion Theatre in London on the final night of a gruelling 40-date national tour that kicked off in January in Hereford and ended with a single show in London in March. Apart from anything else, I take my hat off to the cast for maintaining their obvious energy and enthusiasm after performing almost nightly for close on two months!
The set design was minimalist, consisting essentially of the iconic Camden Lock rail bridge as a backdrop to the small podium occupied by the band, who are on stage for the entire show. The band were phenomenal and consisted of Phil Sherlock (bass guitar), Ric Yarborough (drummer/vocals) and Adam Evans (lead guitar/vocals), with Adam Evans, Reece Davies and Lazy Violet taking turns on lead vocals. Together, they delivered a tight, near flawless performance, with each member showing great musical proficiency and truly sounding like the bands they were covering. They skipped effortlessly between songs and artists as diverse as the Sex Pistols, The Pretenders, Ian Dury, Blondie and The Clash. The only letdown for me was their rendition of Love Will Tear Us Apart (but to be fair, Ian Curtis’s voice and vocal style is so distinctive as to be nearly impossible to reproduce accurately).
Unlike We Will Rock You, the show based on the music of Queen (and of which at least 2 Punk Off cast members are alumni), Punk Off does not rely on a tenuous “plot” to provide a matrix into which to shoehorn the songs. Instead, we got a playlist of songs punctuated by a narrator in the shape of Kevin Kennedy, best known for his role as Curly Watts in Coronation Street and turns on stage in We Will Rock You and Rock of Ages. Kennedy was comfortable in his role, having once been a member of the Paris Valentinos, together with Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke (who later made up half of The Smiths) and being of an age to be able to say legitimately “I was there!”. His obvious affection for the era and the music made him a solid choice.
The show opens on a high note with a blistering rendition of the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK. A tangible buzz of excitement ripples through the audience, most of whom seem to be veterans of punk’s heyday. The first half of the show is a veritable treasure trove of the punk genre, featuring hits originally performed by not only the Sex Pistols but also the Ramones, Sham 69, Buzzcocks, Generation X, The Skids and the Undertones, to name but a few. (There is even a welcome surprise appearance by Plastic Bertrand’s Ça plane pour moi!). Kennedy, as narrator, punctuates the songs with snippets of context and history, including setting the scene by explaining the social context of strikes, unemployment and social unrest that gave rise to the music. This is no doubt familiar ground for serious punk fans but provides a useful reference for a younger audience. He also touches on the significance of Malcolm Mclaren and Vivian Westwood’s iconic shop SEX, which opened on Kings Road in 1974 and sold not only fetish and bondage gear but also Westwood’s own designs. The shop did much to influence and forge the look we associate with punk (think leather, fishnets, chains, studded collars and teensy tartan micro-mini skirts,) and it is an aesthetic that lives on today – a testimony to Westwood’s and punk’s extensive and enduring cultural ripples.
By the time the first half ends with another Pistols classic (Pretty Vacant), the audience is buzzing with the heady energy of the music – but sadly, I felt that the second half was slightly more uneven and lacked much of the focus and dynamism of the first half. Part of the problem is that the post-punk and new wave genres which make up the second half are a very broad musical church (think anything from The Pretenders to Joy Division via The Stranglers). As such, it is very hard to weave the diverging musical threads of punk’s cousins, children and grandchildren into anything resembling a cohesive whole. Despite the looser musical focus, the band remained impressive in their ability to switch effortlessly between vocalists and musical styles, illustrating the huge influence effect that punk had on so many artists that came later: Ian Dury, The Police, the Jam, The Stranglers, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Pretenders and Joy Division, amongst others. The onstage dancing (performed by vocalists Reece Davies and Lazy Violet, together with Louisa Clark and Joshua Fowler) also seems to lose its way a bit after the interval. During the punk-focused first half, the dancers and vocalists all are dressed in leather, fishnets and tartan (even if everything is more manicured than the real thing ever was!); and the dancing references pogo dancing and punk gig mosh pits. In the second half, both the costumes and the moves often seem, frankly, a bit bonkers and seldom add much to the music – think neon satin jogger shorts for Beaches by The Stranglers and some ABBAesque red catsuits during Ian Dury’s Reasons to be Cheerful.
But as the show drew to a close, Kevin Kennedy’s heartfelt and nostalgic elegy for the brief moment in time when punk really did sweep out the old and usher in the new seemed to strike a chord with the audience. As he talked about the spirit of punk being kept alive and how it will continue to resonate with disaffected youth through the ages and influence bands now and always, there were nods and cheers of agreement from the stalls. Kennedy also does Sid Vicious proud by performing lead vocals on the Sex Pistols version of My Way with sneering gusto to close the show. An unashamedly loud encore featuring the Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen and 2-4-6-8 Motorway by the Tom Robinson Band finally got the audience on their feet, singing and dancing. And as the crowd spilled out of the theatre onto the chilly London streets, those amongst them who remembered the heyday of punk undoubtedly felt the echo of being angry young teenagers again, if only for an evening.
As a reminder of (or introduction to) punk, which really only peaked for a couple of years in the late 1970s yet still resonates with audiences and influences bands today, Punk Off succeeds brilliantly. Without punk, it is unlikely that bands such as Joy Division, New Order, The Police, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Green Day, and many more would exist, and it is good to acknowledge that debt. Overall, it felt as if there was definitely the kernel of a hit show here – and a West End musical featuring the seminal music of the punk scene is surely overdue. But despite laudable ambitions and some great moments (and that brilliant band!), you are ultimately left with the feeling that the show’s reach exceeds its grasp. Some shortcomings are most likely due to the budgetary constraints of a touring show as opposed to a West End residency – the fact that there are only the four dancers who do not and cannot fill a stage, or create anything approaching the sense of a crowd at a gig, for example. Other flaws are more fundamental but perhaps also not fatal (the musically less cohesive second half and its slightly bewildering costumes and choreography). If, as I suspect, the national tour is a prelude to opening the show in the West End, these concerns will have to be addressed – London’s audiences are both spoilt for choice and jaded. But Punk Off definitely succeeds as a loud and proud musical love letter to a genre that caused a tectonic shift in British popular music and culture.
Dominion Theatre
268-269 Tottenham Court Road
London
W1T 7AQ
Tel 020 7927 0900
Would agree largely with the article, but having been to the show myself, there is little doubt that anyone who has an affection for punk rock will love it. Just to hear all your favourite songs one after another makes for a great night out. Sure there are areas that could be improved but like punk rock itself the energy overload ripes through your senses. A must see for punk rock fans.