Mission UK’s Fan Sing-a-Long at Great American Music Hall

Mission UK
Great American Music Hall
May 9, 2024

Photos by Raymond Ahner.

After a very successful tour of America in 2023, seminal post-punkers The Mission UK returned to the states in late April for a handful of West Coast dates leading up to their slot at the Cruel World Festival at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on a recent weekend. The band pulled up to the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on May 9, and proceeded to put on a show that had both the local fans as well as their traveling contingency of fans singing along to every song.

Opening their set with ‘Beyond the Pale,” vocalist/guitarist Wayne Hussey was in fine form, and he, along with guitarist Simon Hinker, bassist Craig Adams, and new drummer Alex Baum, transported the room back to 1988, complete with Adams doing his best Julianne Regan impersonation while singing backing vocals. From there it was the sing-along classics “Hands Across the Ocean” and “Into the Blue,” the latter was a fan favorite from the 1989 release Carved in Sand.

After “Naked and Savage,” and “Severina,” both with bassist Craig Adams on backing vocals, Wayne introduced a “new” song to the crowd, “Can’t See the Ocean for the Rain,” which he said was written in San Francisco, and driving through Big Sur.

Taking a minute to look at the setlist, Hissey pulled an audible, and asked the crowd what they wanted to hear. Almost immediately, the band launched into “Child’s Play.” “Wasteland” followed, and during an extended bridge, Hussey snuck in a couple of lyrics from “Like a Hurricane,” although judging from the fans reaction, it didn’t go unnoticed.

Before wrapping up their set with the anthemic “Deliverance,” Hussey gave a shout out to the “European contingency” who follows the band across the world, throwing confetti at just the right time during the band’s set, and dancing and singing to every song, and one in particular who stands on the shoulders of another, while the rest protect them from the crowd.

The Mission was not quite done though. They returned to the stage for a three song encore of “Butterfly on a Wheel,” “The Crystal Ocean,” and, of course, “Tower of Strength,” which no Mission set would be complete without.

By the time it was all said and done, The Mission had given and received so much energy from their fans, they made even a smaller venue show seem like a big festival set. The evening was the perfect warm up for the Cruel World Festival, but hopefully they will be back in San Francisco soon.

Opening for The Mission UK for this West Coast run was Nuovo Testamento, a three piece synth-pop band from Los Angeles and Bologna, whose Disco Italo sound with gothic undertones was the perfect band to open the show.

Here’s a slideshow with more photos from the show by Raymond Ahner: