Stiff Little Fingers “Hanx!” 1980. We saw Stiff Little Fingers perform this past Friday night at Shank Hall in Milwaukee as part of their 40th anniversary tour and their melodic punk sound was just as tight as this live album from July ‘80 (recorded at the Rainbow in London and Friars in Aylesbury). Only Jake Burns (vocal/guitar) and Ali McMordie (bass) remain from the original lineup. Burns has a middle-age beer gut (but sounds amazing) while McMordie epitomizes the lean, cocky bass player stereotype.

My friend Chris P. nabbed the set list after the show and snapped this photo:

This was SLF’s first time ever playing Milwaukee and they performed a few newer songs, including “My Dark Places” from their 2014 release No Going Back (listed as “Dark” on the setlist; Burns introduced the song with a brief and matter-of-fact description of his longtime battle with depression and a plea for others to get help if they need it), but the majority of the show was from their early years (and frankly what the audience wanted to hear). Songs from Friday’s show and ones that appear on Hanx! are “At the Edge,” “Barbed Wire Love,” “Nobody’s Hero” and “Tin Soldiers.” The encore included “Johnny Was” (a Bob Marley cover), “Gotta Gettaway” and the ever-excellent “Alternative Ulster.” In between many of the songs, Burns good-naturely chatted with the audience, describing the bands’ breakup in the mid-80′s (“we couldn’t stand the sight of each other”) and surviving a musician right-of-passage: going out drinking with a guy from Thin Lizzy after moving to London from Ireland in ‘79.