by Karen Heeringa
Despite all the confusion that singer Pete Shelley was so obviously dealing with in the seventies and eighties with tracks like “What Do I Get?”, “Why Can’t I Touch It?” and “Ever Fallen In Love?”, people caught on fast to The Buzzcocks’ hyper-addictive songs which propelled the English punk icons into a legendary career which recently entered its 40th year. Leaning more into an area of first-generation pop punk, The Buzzcocks sing about the oppression that love gives you and how one must find other ways to deal with the problem. There still aren’t a lot of bands who have leveled up to The Buzzcocks after all these years, and that’s why they belong at Riot Fest. Winos and heads of state alike will yearn for another round of rapid-fire audio orgasms from The Buzzcocks, with fans more than ready and willing to sing along to every word.
