I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 5, 2026] Mekons

Mekons are a legendary punk/DIY/country band from England.  Their fanbase is as intense although the people who have never head of them is probably ten times as large.  I’mnot a huge fans, although I do like two of their albums from the 90s.  I thought it would be fun to see them live and hope that they played one or two of the songs that I really like.  I was also really intrigued that they were playing at the Latvian Society of Philadelphia (which I’d never heard of).  Evidently they tend to play offbeat places when they play in Philly (and maybe when they play elsewhere too).  But I was pretty pleased to explore the Latvian Society which is pretty cool.  Its right next to the German Society which is even more impressive on the outside.

I looked online and some site said that we could park in the German Society parking lot for shows at the Latvian Society.  I parked there and when I asked at the door, the Latvian folks had no idea what I was talking about, so I had to run off and move my car again.

I made it back in in time.  And I got a nice spot near the stage (in what was basically like a grammar school auditorium).  The show was going to be about 90 minutes and then “the band DJs after their set (they’re calling it a “Mekonic Disco”, so cool).”  So, there was incentive to stay late.

However, I had just discovered a band called KulfiGirls who were playing that night at Warehouse on Watts.  And I thought it would be super fun to go to both shows.  I was told that the KulfiGirls would go on at 10, so I planned to leave around 9:40.

Once the band came on, the old fans (and they were old!  I was definitely on the young side) pushed forward and blocked views and were just awful.

That didn’t help.  Nor did the fact that the old dude with the big white beard who pushed his way next to me was dancing in a way that I can only describe as invasive.  He rocked back and forth and swung his arms out to the side as he did so–basically taking up the room of 3 or 4 people.  I was really uncomfortable by the guy who was really close to hitting me, so I backed up and then he was in front of me rocking back and forth.  And I guess he was having fun, but Jesus.

So he really made me not enjoy myself.  And, worse than that, my hip started hurting and it was actually getting painful to stand on it.  So I thought I’d stick it out until they played the one song that I wanted to hear.  Of course, when I looked at the setlist again to see when Millionaire was being played–it wasn’t on the setlist at all.

I am also all about getting a picture of the setlist.  And I saw them put it on the stage.  I wanted to sneak up and take a picture but the crowd was unruly (old school anarchist punks, I guess).  And I didn’t even bother to wait around until the end of the show to snap a picture.  Crazily enough, no one posted their setlist on setlist.fm either.  Although it is available on Archive.org.

The band were interesting–totally unpretentious.  Anarchist punks that have been doing this forever.  Jon Langford, who I’d thought was a grouchy curmudgeon, was a lot of fun.  He made jokes, he sang great and his guitar playing was effortless.  Whenever he introduced the new album, Horror, he would say it in a scary voice HORROR, which was quite amusing.  Co-leader Sally Timms was also really fun.  She talked about how all of the shirts for sale were one of a kind–shirts the band made in the bus on the way to the gigs.  Susie Honeyman’s violin was either unplugged or was just way too low in volume for the first few songs, but it sounded good when it kicked in.

The set started good and I was enjoying the music.  Machine is really catchy.  War Economy was kind of fun because drummer Steve Goulding sang and Langford interjected shouts (War economy, violence and greed) throughout.

Before this show, I had been listening to Mekons records from their earlier days and they were much more country-sounding.  But these songs were just good old rocking songs (with violin and occasional accordion from Rico Bell).

Keep on Hoppin was an older song that everyone around me was excited to hear.  Lyrics are quite important for Mekons songs (everyone sang “There’s a bust of Winston Churchill in the corner”) and they are quite militant about their ideas.  And I agree with them.  Like when they said it’s morning in America, no sorry, I’m mourning America.  But sometimes it felt like the crowd was feeling kind of smug to be attached to a band that was this full of meaning–see Insignificance.

For Last Dance Sally said that Tom Greenhalgh couldn’t be with them (he’s fine) so they gave violinist Susie Honeyman lots of vocal lessons.  I didn’t know the original, so I can’t saw how she did, but it sounded find to me (although she was too quiet in the beginning).  Jon noted that Baron von Trumfio (Dave Trumfio on bass replacing Tom) would be doing the Mekonic disco after the show with newer music that he (Jon( hated but would still be dancing to.

The Western Design was slow and very pointed. Sung by Rico Bell it had a very different feel.

In 1654 on Christmas Day the fleet left Portsmouth
The British empire, casting off
Before the Western design
Private citizens or companies
Managed the work of expansion
Jon Dee, with his scrying mirror
Necromanced the British empire
Oliver Cromwell kicked it off

It was quite slow (but faster than the record) and Langford shouted echoing vocals in this one as well–they were clearly having a lot of fun.  They played Last Weeks of the War which continued the slow pacing, and may have started my thoughts about leaving.  At the end, Jon thought that they had jumped ahead on the setlist because they also had Last Night on Earth a couple of songs later (and Last Dance a few songs earlier).

Slightly South of the Border picked things up–a shambling sing along with violin and accordion.

Then Steve Goulding lent Jon a drumstick for the next song and he used it to bang on the strings for Simone on the Beach (with a lengthy amusing intro).  The band acknowledged the heat in the room (it was HOT)

Last Night on earth was fun and then things slowed down again with Rico singing Fallen Leaves–it was definitely during these slower songs that I thought about leaving.  Cockermouth was another fun shambling singalong, but I did feel like the songs were starting to sound kind of samey and I was thinking about that KulfiGirls show.  I enjoyed Cockermouth, although the slower I Am Crazy started to lose me again.

Mudcrawlers rocked like many of the new album’s songs and while I enjoyed Hard to Be Human Again, I felt like I needed to get over to W.O.W.  And while 32 Weeks had a punky vibe (I see it’s from their album Punk Rock), I didn’t enjoy the violin playing the same note over and over and Langford’s spoken lyrics.  So I decided to leave before the next song started.   So I left during the rather fun and rollicking Hard to Be Human Again.

So I missed three and half songs.  I definitely should have stayed just to have seen the whole show (since I was way too early for the W.O.W. show).  But honestly my hip was hurting a lot–it even hurt heading down the stairs.

If I had only paid attention, I would have seen that a few days later they were playing at the Old Franklin Schoolhouse, in Metuchen, where my wife lived when we met.  They played two shows there, and played Millionaire in both shows.  During the encore break Sally said that the shows were sold out, but new tickets were being released.

As I’m listening to the show on Archive, the encore started very slowly with Sanctuary (a song I probably would have loved hearing if I was a big fan of the band) and Tina, but they did pick up the rocking with the final song Memphis, Egypt.  So maybe I didn’t need to be there for those shows after all.

Part of me realizes that if I had been better prepared, I would have enjoyed this show a lot more and of course, I would have liked to see what the Mekonic disco was all about.  It was greedy to try to do both things, but realistically, had I stayed longer, I could easily have done both.

I would consider seeing them again, knowing what I’m in for.  We’ll see.  Huh, so they played Philly in last year, but before then not since 2019 and then 2015.  I guess I really should go again if they do come back.

SETLIST

Machine ∞
War Economy ♠ (Steve Goulding vocal)
Keep on Hoppin µ
Oblivion ‰
Insignificance ∀
Last Dance ∇ (Susie Honeyman vocal)
The Western Design ♠ (Rico Bell vocal)
Last Weeks of the War ⇔
Slightly South of the Border ‰
Simone on the Beach €
Last Night on Earth ⇔
Fallen Leaves ♠
Cockermouth Õ
I Am Crazy ®
Mudcrawlers ♠
32 Weeks ⊗
Hard to Be Human Again ∇
encore
Sanctuary ♠ (Susie Honeyman & Sally Timms vocal)
Tina ⇔
Memphis, Egypt®

 

♠ Horror (2025)
Ξ Deserted (2019)
€ Existentialism (2016)
Õ Natural (2007)
⊗ Punk Rock (2004)
∀ Heaven & Hell: The Very Best of The Mekons (2004)
⇔ Journey to the End of the Night (2000)
¥ Where Were You? Hen’s Teeth and Other Lost Fragments of Unpopular Culture, Volume 2 (1999)
∞ Retreat From Memphis (1994)
® The Mekons Rock ’n’ Roll (1989)
µ Honky Tonkin’ (1987)
‰ The Edge of the World (1986)
∇ Fear and Whiskey (1985)