GBH didn't just play Philadelphia’s Underground Arts on Tuesday, November 4th; they detonated it. After over four decades of spitting bile into the face of polite society, the British hardcore legends proved they’ve lost zero horsepower. From the moment vocalist Colin Abrahall clad in his signature leather hit the stage, the air in the venue curdled with the kind of volatile energy rarely seen outside of a nuclear test site.
They opened with a relentless, fifteen-minute barrage that established the night's furious pace, tearing through anthems of paranoia and cynicism like the one-two punch of “Diplomatic Immunity” and the perfectly nihilistic “Sick Boy.” Bassist Ross Lomas was a blur of motion, anchoring the chaos beneath Abrahall’s raw, snarling delivery. The tempo never dipped; even relatively deeper cuts like “Am I Dead Yet?” and the grinding “Wardogs” maintained the breakneck velocity, forcing the crowd into a state of constant, sweaty motion.
The middle stretch demonstrated the band’s mastery of the short, sharp shock. Drummer Scott Preece’s relentless attack on tracks like “Gunned Down” and “I Am the Hunted” ensured that every power chord felt like a physical blow. There’s a beautiful, ugly simplicity to GBH’s formula: three chords and the truth, delivered with maximum intensity. Even when they momentarily dropped the hammer for the slower, stomping menace of “Heavy Discipline,” the tension was palpable, only to be released again instantly with the frenetic burst of “Generals” and the defining credo, “No Survivors.”
The inevitable climax arrived with the pairing of their earliest classics, “City Baby Attacked by Rats” and its furious sequel, “City Baby’s Revenge.” The crowd, a mix of weathered lifers and wide-eyed newcomers, erupted, chanting every word of the defining street punk manifestos. For the encore, GBH leaned into their heavy-metal kinship, following the frantic, apocalyptic "Time Bomb" with a roaring rendition of Motörhead’s "Bomber," cementing a ferocious performance that left no doubt: GBH remains a vital, brutal force, proving that the best kind of punk rock is still loud, fast, and completely unforgiving.
SETLIST
Diplomatic Immunity
Drugs Party in 526
Sick Boy
Slit Your Own Throat
Am I Dead Yet?
Wardogs
Maniac
Gunned Down
I Am the Hunted
The Prayer of a Realist
Heavy Discipline
Bellend Bop
I Never Asked for Any of This
Generals
No Survivors
Momentum
Give Me Fire
City Baby Attacked by Rats
City Baby's Revenge
Encore:
Time Bomb
Bomber
Next Tour Stops:
11/7 New York City
11/8 Baltimore, MD
11/9 Richmond, VA
11/11 Atlanta, GA
11/12 Nashville, TN