It was one off the bucket list Sunday night for longtime members of the local punk/post-punk scene.
Thirty-eight years after releasing its seminal debut album, "Pink Flag," in 1977, Wire made its first-ever Pittsburgh appearance in the sanctuary of Mr. Smalls.
In an interview last week, frontman Colin Newman prepped us for the show, saying it would focus on new material and it would be LOUD. And it did and it WAS.
He also said, interestingly enough, there would not be a lot of musical virtuosity on stage. And there wasn't.
While early Wire was big on short spastic bursts and slashing guitars, this incarnation is all about chugging straight ahead with tense, muscular, workmanlike songs that stay firmly in a sonic mid-range.
The focus was new self-titled album, "Wire," and Newman, looking more college lit professor than the guy who birthed hardcore, was unshamed to have an iPad taped to a stand to feed him the lyrics. That makes a little more sense in that bassist Graham Lewis writes the "text," as Newman calls it, and they're far from moon-spoon-June.
In fact, sometimes they're tongue-twisters. "The narrowest vision," he sings in "Sleepwalking," "often has the widest appeal/A lack of decision/leaves us open for a steal/Left out, abandoned/we're less than ideal."
"Sing" isn't the operative word, as it's really more of a talk-sing now, and he's unconcerned with wobbling out of key. Young guitarist Matt Simms stuck to the minimalist program, aiming for noisy texture rather than riffs and solos. The synths we hear on the record putting a smooth sheen over new songs like "Blogging" and "Shifting" were left back in England. There were moments of shimmering pop, though, particularly "In Manchester," reminiscent of New Order.
They broke from the new "Wire" a few times to remind us of early Wire on the speedy "Stealth of a Stork" (a song from 2013's "Change Becomes Us," based on an musical fragment) and the Lewis-sung dirge "Blessed State" from "154." The encore was vintage '77-'78 with the frantic "Brazil" and "Chairs Missing" fave "Used To."
It came as no surprise that the highlight was the "Wire" album closer and set closer, "Harpooned," hitting the crowd with a long wave of ominous sound and guitar squalls.
At one point, Lewis said, "They told us in Washington, D.C., we shouldn't know what to expect here. They were right."
We can only guess he was pleased, given the solid turnout and enthusiasm on a Sunday night. Like with the Velvet Underground, a couple thousand people bought the record and they all formed bands. Looking around the room, there were lots of faces we've seen for years on local stages, including members of the Cynics and the S/CKS and Eli Kasan, whose band, The Gotobeds, was named after Wire's rock solid drummer Robert Gotobed.
First Published: June 8, 2015, 8:58 p.m.