THE STRANGLERS // BUZZCOCKS (SUPPORT) // O2 ACADEMY, LEEDS

Half a Century of Snarl: The Stranglers and Buzzcocks ARE NOT DEAD YET

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

The Stranglers @ O2 Academy Leeds - Photo Credit John Hayhurst

Inside the O2 Academy Leeds tonight two punk-veteran bands proved that age and changing line-ups need not drain the fire and bite from their music. Buzzcocks, and the headliners, The Stranglers, showed that even with only a single founder member remaining in each group, you can still deliver with rare authenticity.

Ahead of the main act came Buzzcocks, with founding member and de facto frontman Steve Diggle steering the ship. The set included fan favourites such as opener “What Do I Get?”, “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)”, “Harmony in My Head” and “Promises”. These songs feel less like something left behind in the 70s and more like urgently discovered moments tonight: the riffs still punch, the vocals still crackle with energy, and the crowd still know every word. Tonight Diggle, alongside bassist Chris Remington and drummer Danny Farrant, took us through a rapid set of the group’s classic hooks. Their tight stage-presence belied the fact that the only original member on stage was Steve Diggle himself — the rest of the current band carry the songs with evident respect and skill. It felt like watching a punk band that had grown up but refused to lose its edge.

By the time the Stranglers took over, the venue was already buzzing. On stage we saw founding bassist and vocalist Jean‑Jacques Burnel — the only remaining original member of The Stranglers — flanked by guitarist/vocalist Baz Warne, drummer Jim Macaulay and keyboardist Toby Hounsham. Burnel’s presence alone gives the show real gravity: here is a musician who has fronted one of the UK’s longest-surviving bands, through evolution, personnel change and shifting musical eras. The band has been active since 1974 which is why this tour is called “51”, tonight in Leeds is the opening night and it’s a sell out as expected.

What unfolded was a show that felt both familiar and alive. Amid the theatre of Burnel’s bass lines and the surging keyboards cutting in and out, we heard “Peaches”, “Golden Brown”, “Skin Deep” and “Always the Sun” — songs that could so easily become nostalgic relics but instead sounded urgent and immediate. The audience sang back every word, but the band seemed to treat the songs not as memorabilia but as living work. The interplay between Burnel and Warne was striking: Both dressed in regulation black, Burnel still growled his bass-driven songs with a cool trademark edge, while Warne handled the leads and vocals on the Hugh Cornwell tracks with convincing conviction. The new rhythm section felt more than competent; they felt invested.

There was a moment when the room leaned in as the unmistakable harpsichord-like arpeggio of “Golden Brown” drifted out, and for those minutes the gig reached something close to reverence rather than simply entertainment. Yet this was no stodgy retrospective: the band kicked through a mix of early punk punch and more melodic later work, and they did so with power. Mid set they casually put out “Pin Up” - a song they haven’t played live in over 25 years.

Given that Burnel alone remains from the original line-up, it might be easy to dismiss this as a ghost-of-what-was act — but nothing about the performance felt diminished. The songs were intact, the attitude intact, the delivery matched up. Perhaps time has matured them, but in doing so given the music a longevity it rarely enjoys.

One thing I noticed: the crowd were as mixed in age as the band’s catalogue. There were those who have followed the Stranglers since they were banned from BBC radio, and younger punters drawn by the legend and the songs. The venue’s acoustics made the shimmering keyboards and Burnel’s heavily distorted bass sound resonate, and Warne’s guitar cuts through without ever drowning the melodic backbone. The rest of the band are clearly comfortable in the material — they play it with conviction rather than homage.

It’s worth reflecting: each of these bands started life as raw, in-your-face responses to rock-and-roll conventions. And yet here they were in 2025, with only a single founder member each (Diggle for Buzzcocks; Burnel for The Stranglers), still standing, still playing the great songs, still finding meaning in them. There’s something quietly extraordinary in that: to stay relevant, to keep the spark alive, and to deliver night after night without trading solely on nostalgia. They prove that longevity in rock doesn’t have to mean playing safe.

This wasn’t a museum-piece gig, not a past-glory rehash, but a living document of what’s still possible when punk at its heart becomes classic rock in body but keeps the fire in its belly. If you believe that a band must have all original members intact to “be real”, both sets made a strong case to the contrary. Because what mattered tonight wasn’t who was on the original bill — but who can step up and still make the songs count.

A great night, the kind you don’t attend simply out of loyalty, but because the songs still have relevance, and the bands still have a voice, and their stories still need to be told.

Words and Photography - John Hayhurst