Die!Die!Die! @ ABC2

The ABC 2 is a little too salubrious for a punk rock show. Everyone present is a little too cool to like that sort of thing anyway. Yet none of that deters New Zealand art-punkers, Die!Die!Die! from stirring just a little of that rabble-rousing spirit of old. Sure, they aren't as angry as The Clash; they don't reinforce their stance with rants against whatever - they just play, and boy, do they play fast. Crashing through 10 songs in almost as many minutes, this is a searing and blistering display of intelligent, 21st century punk rock and make no mistake. In whatever ways the world may have changed since the days of the originators, and in the face of the notion that the punk mentality might not rage the way it once did, there is nevertheless a sharp glimmer of that alive in Die!Die!Die! The muted carnage and rebellion they create for Glasgow this evening is an assertive declaration. [Neil Ferguson]