Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2010

Courtesy of Year Zero

“It’s been a long time,” Poly Styrene tells the crowd. And she’s not joking: when pioneering punk band X-Ray Spex took the stage at London’s plush Roundhouse venue in September 2008, it was their first show in over a decade. X-Ray Spex are truly the punk’s punks—even Johnny Rotten’s a fan—and Styrene’s fearless attitude helped pave the way for three decades of grrrls in music. This CD and DVD set (because little girls should be seen and heard) captures the Roundhouse show in all its sweat-drenched glory, as an audience of hoary old punks and pierced young gals go nuts to ’70s classics “Oh Bondage Up Yours!”, “Warrior in Woolworths” and “I am a Cliché.” Age may have taken its toll on the band members—Styrene sports the “cuddly aunt” look and drinks her water through a straw, while original guitarist Jak Airport is absent due to death—but the bellowing double-whammy of sax and vocal wailing is intact, and just as vital as ever.