On the Factory Floor

The Chameleons were a band I came around to too late to see in person. Though they initially split in the late 80s, a reformation happened back in the early part of the last decade which also produced a pretty good album. However, it all fell apart again a matter of months before I got hold of a copy of their Strange Times album, becoming instantly smitten.

Since then, I've seen Burgess do several solo concerts where the main focus has been on his extensive solo career, with a few Chameleons highlights thrown in, and I've always enjoyed the shows. He’s a natural frontman with plenty of charisma and energy and at a charity show in Middleton Civic Hall, I was lucky enough to see him play through a version of Alternative TV’s Splitting In Two (a feature of the old band’s set) with both John Lever and Reg Smithies. Reg, incidentally, looked pretty much exactly as he did in 1982.

More recently, drummer Lever elected to start doing a set of Chameleons’ songs with his current band. Certain fans grumbled, but a guy has to make a living and those are his songs as much as anybodies. A gig at Manchester’s Roadhouse saw Burgess join in – I was there and it was an excellent night, so when the chance to see the same line-up (now billed as Chameleons-Vox) at the new Fac251 club came up, it was a no-brainer.

Firstly, the venue itself is no great shakes. Tiny bars and narrow stairs would seem to be a recipe for disaster, but perhaps that the clientele would mostly be student types, the potential for aggro is low. The Factory motif is central to design (portrait of Wilson by the door, as with the Hacienda, the typeface on all signs) and the sound wasn't too shabby either.

On entry, we’re pointed to the upstairs bar and a pathetic range of drinks. After sitting through England bravely battling to a draw against the States, everyone troops back downstairs and politely watches the support band trip through a set of Joy Division/Sonic Youth type riffs. A glance round the room shows a fair mix of ages: plenty of those who saw them first time round and a number like myself, who've discovered them after the fact. For us, we know this may well the closest we get to seeing the full band for ourselves.

When they do finally get on stage, it’s to a loud reception. Burgess somehow manages to not sweat bricks in his Doc Martens and jacket, though it still looks a bit weird seeing him on stage without a bass. From the off, it’s pretty much full on: In Shreds powers along, fuelled by Lever’s drums – he’s worth being here alone and he’s not lost any of the stamina or skill that made him one of the best of his generation.

The rest of the band does their job ably. The guitarists may not be in the league of Smithies and Dave Fielding, but not many are. The set maintains its early peak, running through all your favourites are more: personal faves would be Nostalgia (appropriate on such a night), Perfume Garden and Signing Rule Britannia (While The Walls Close In). As ever, Burgess peppers his own songs with grabbed lyrics from others: Get Back, Break On Through (To The Other Side) and White Riot are make their way in, somehow, while men in their late 40s energetically mosh away with people who could be their own children. An interesting sight.

The main set ends with Second Skin, with everyone singing the synth parts. Then it’s all back on for the run through Swamp Thing. We all go home happy as the kids outside line up to enter the club night that will carry on till the early hours.

At one point in the show, Burgess made a point that while some people have criticised the rebirth of the Factory brand, it’ll work until we find something better. As I left Fac251 to a room of students bouncing to Happy Mondays and Stone Roses, I wondered later just when the Manchester music scene will finally find something to help lift the weight of the past.