54-40 played a brilliant show on Thursday November 27 at the London Music Hall. I hadn’t seen them since 1990 and had been listening to them frequently lately, so this trip back to London was well-timed for me.
(photos by VA)
I was looking forward to the show and expected it to be good, but the performance far exceeded my expectations. Jesus, they were on fire. They did many favourites with aplomb and passion, sounding great. An intense set from start to finish.
54-40 were on fire that night.
Many numbers got extended workouts, with “Music Man” as a highlight. And of course they played my favourite and the track that first got me into 54-40 from the then-newly-released “Green Album,” “Baby Ran.” It was blazing.
Neil Osborne’s daughter Kandle opened the show but also joined dad for a sublime acoustic take on “Alcohol Heart.” She and her band earlier also did a great cover of David Bowie’s “Lazarus.” I’d never heard that covered before.
Neil Osborne with his daughter Kandle.
Osborne’s brother did a great job on sax and keyboards, keeping it in the family.
The crowd loved the show: especially the obviously-on-some-fucking-serious-uppers, pigtail-headed, perma-bouncing lass whose bundles of energy had her maniacally hurling and leaping her hippity-hoppin’ self all through the crowd, all night long. She could put the Energizer Bunny to shame.
Thanks guys for such a great night.
I will eventually be podcasting and blogging about this show in full down the road in the mylifeinconcert.com series along with other 54-40 gigs in 1987 (I interviewed them on their first tour out here), 1988, and 1990.
NEXT SNAPSHOT: The B-52s, Devo, & Lene Lovich make for a perfect and inspired triple bill of new wave heroes at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage, Toronto.
SNAPSHOTS 216. The B-52s, Devo, & Lene Lovich, Budweiser Stage, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Wednesday September 24, 2025
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