The Only Performance That Makes It: Buzzcocks in Austin, April 30, 2025

No Pete? No problem. Steve Diggle keeps the Shelley-less Buzzcocks burning—half elegy, half blitzkrieg.

“‘Ere’s one Keef Richards taught me!”: Buzzcocks’ Steve Diggle at The Mohawk, Austin, TX. (📸 Pic: Tim Couch)

It was a sticky, noisy night at The Mohawk, in the thick of Austin’s Red River Strip. [NOTE: Yes, I wrote the story I just linked you to. The Austin Chronicle currently has it in their online archive, uncredited. I will fix that by running it here in the near future.] It was the kind where punk still feels like a subversive live wire instead of a museum piece. And Manchester, England’s charter pogo pop outfit, Buzzcocks, came out and proved it.

Buzzcocks are not a nostalgia act. At least, not the way they hit the stage that night, nor the way they’ve played pretty much every night since they formed, then reformed in 1989 after an eight-year absence. I’ve seen enough sets from this band to know that melody and punk are not mortal enemies—and neither are love songs. They’ve always been consistently great in person.

The second the first chord landed, following an extended bass and drums vamp on their second UA 45, “What Do I Get?”, it wasn’t about history. It was about urgency.

(However, I gotta say: walking on to “Also sprach Zarathustra”—yes, the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme and Las Vegas-era Elvis’ entrance music—was rather corny. I fully expected sole remaining original Buzzcock Steve Diggle to strut on in a white jumpsuit.)

Yes, it’s still weird to see Buzzcocks without Pete Shelley, their original leading light alongside the early-departed Howard Devoto and writer of all their bruised romantic classics, like “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve).” And yet... here we are, six-and-a-half years after Shelley’s final bow. Somehow, it still works. It doesn’t replace him. Rather, it revolves around his absence.

It’s easy for people to treat the void Shelley left behind like a gaping hole. I certainly do. We always will. But what’s remarkable is how they’ve carried his spirit without turning it into a mausoleum. Diggle isn’t burying Pete’s memory. He’s carrying it. He sings Shelley’s songs with as much fire as his own, delivering them with reverence and zero irony. The love is obvious. The legacy is intact.

And let’s be clear: Diggle was never just The Other Guy. This is a false narrative that he’s been saddled with, despite being there the whole damn time. The moment Devoto bailed, it was Diggle and Shelley—not just Pete with a rhythm guitarist. Two voices. Two pens. Two identities, sharing the front line equally. Diggle wrote some of the band’s most enduring classics—“Autonomy,” “Harmony in My Head”—and his post-reunion work has been just as vital. Tracks like “Sick City Sometimes” hold their own next to anything from the first three albums. He’s not curating a museum piece. He’s still writing the story.

Buzzcocks tear up The Mohawk! Mani Perrazzoli (left) : “I can feel the earth begin to move/
I hear my needle hit the groove….” Steve Diggle (center) : “Mani, we’re doin’ bleedin’ “‘Armony In Me ‘Ead,’ laddie!” Chris Remington (right): “Blimey! Another 40 minutes, and I can ‘ave a pint…!” (📸 Pic: Tim Couch)

So, why shouldn’t Steve Diggle continue leading Buzzcocks far past Pete Shelley’s death?

So, yes. Buzzcocks keep playing the hits, plus high points from the seven excellent studio LPs they’ve issued since 1993’s Trade Test Transmissions. Every one of them holds up to the three classic LPs and the remarkable string of singles from their heyday.

And yet, those post-reunion records remain punk’s best-kept secret.

Sonics in the Soul (2022) was the first proof they could survive Pete Shelley and thrive. Such highlights as “Senses Out Of Control” sat ably in the Mohawk setlist beside “Boredom,” “Fast Cars,” or “Orgasm Addict” without a hitch.

Buzzcocks drummer Danny Farrant: “Is ‘e startin’ up ‘Fool’s Gold’?!” (📸 Pic: Tim Couch)

Then there’s the deft rearrangements of certain classics, leaving you with a dropped jaw and a thought bubble floating above your head, reading, “Oh, that’s new!” Yes, I’m talking about that extended “What Do I Get?” opening vamp, wherein the individual ‘Cocks walk on one-by-one, beginning with drummer Danny Farrant steaming through a shuffle beat, followed by Chris Remington strapping on a Fender Precision and locking in with Farrant.

Buzzcocks’ Chris Remington: “Fuck—now ‘e’s playin’ Primal Scream songs!” (📸 Pic: Tim Couch)

Then came new guitarist Mani Perrazzoli (me to him later: “Weren’t you in The Stone Roses?”), all spiky hair, goldtop Les Paul, and the cocky swagger endemic to gunslingers in their early 20s. But it’s earned—the kid can rip!

Buzzcocks’ Mani Perrazzoli: Okay, I’ll knock off the Stone Roses jokes! (📸 Pic: Tim Couch)

Then came Diggle, smacking a tambourine with an egg-and-chip-eating grin before strapping on his Telecaster and firing up the Marshalls: “I just wanna lover like any other—what do I get?” He always was the showman of the group!

Steve Diggle sees Elon Musk in the audience…NAKED! (📸 Pic: Tim Couch)

But who’d’ve thunk he’d drop a psychedelic jam into his own “Harmony In My Head,” perfect for Perrazzoli to demonstrate the various ways he knows how to make that goldtop squeal and groan. Then they pulled up songs we’ve never heard Buzzcocks play live: “Why She’s A Girl From The Chainstore”? Love Bites’ acoustic strummer “Love Is Lies”? We really were getting the Steve Diggle Songbook tonight!

Cleverly, the 2025 Buzzcocks saved “Ever Fallen In Love” for the absolute last song of the night, capping an extended encore. Why would you spring Buzzcocks’ money shot in the middle of the set? Instead, we all got to howl along—drunkenly or not, out-of-tune or not—to the greatest song ever written, capping an absolutely perfect night. Forget that shitty Fine Young Cannibals cover that paid Pete Shelley’s mortgage forever! Damn the dripping-hot, filthy weather! Buzzcocks rule, OK?

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