LIVE REVIEW: THE JUNGLES + 52 PUNCH UP + TAURUS TRAKKER – HOPE AND ANCHOR, LONDON 12/8/26

I am starting to feel as though the Hope and Anchor is my second home; if you are going to have a second home, then I am thinking that this is as good a place as any. On Wednesday it was also home to Shake Some Acton’s latest offering, featuring another blinding mixture of old(ish) rockers and crazed punk rock acts fully in keeping with the eclectic nature of this franchise. I felt that this gig being just after Rebellion may have helped swell the crowd size, this was comfortably the best attended gig I have seen for some time which gave the whole evening a fantastic buzz.

First up were the old rockers (sorry Marty, to be fair you’re probably not as old as I am); Martin Muscatt declaring that he first played this venue in 1979. With a family connection to the Clash (Mick Jones is Martin’s cousin) their pedigree is not up for debate. They delivered a set covering a back catalogue going back 20 years, full of bluesy, sometimes even Stonesy rock (I mean that in a good way!), with Martin’s polished guitar licks backed by the punching drums of ex-Alternative TV’s Allison Phillips. As usual with a SSA gig, a worthy start to the evening!

Taurus Trakker: Instagram | Facebook

A different direction followed, with the introduction of slightly deranged duo 52 Punch Up, featuring former members of Atomic Suplex: Jim Suplex on guitar/vocals and pedals, and Alex Bone on drums. Although they were only two, anyone that is up for wearing a pink furry guitar strap is going to grab my attention. With a bank of pedals which made his guitar sound anywhere from a flushing toilet to the inside of an atomic explosion, Jim Suplex treated us to a full-on one-man-mosh-pit experience. Subtlety was not a word that sprang to mind at any point in this set. His previous incarnation within Atomic Suplex involved wearing a motorcycle helmet, and it’s hard to see how he could have made it through the evening without wearing one this time, the way he threw himself around the stage. Absolutely mental, but brilliant!

52 Punch Up: Instagram | Facebook

Our headliners tonight were all girl nutters The Jungles, all the way from Tokyo. I normally sneak a quick snap of a band’s setlist to aid memory and look up songs when I am researching the band after the gig, but in this case, aside from four of the songs, the list was in Japanese which wasn’t super helpful. But it mattered not, as The Jungles blasted their way through the set regardless of language. Sometimes a four piece, sometimes five (with the addition of “Suckin” on scream, although Suckin seemed to spend most of her time in the audience even when performing), their explosive energy and quickfire numbers got the crowd properly rocking. I want to see these again next time they are over..