The Return of Flirt

June 14th @ Alvin's

w/ The Punks & Blammo

There are reunions and then there are REUNIONS !!! Seeing Flirt for the first time in more than twenty years certainly qualifies as a major event and deserves all the accolades and attention that I can muster.  Flirt originally made their mark in the early Detroit punk scene of the late 1970s.  The combination of Rockee's exquisite vocals and the driving beat of Skid and company led to many nights of people heading out of Bookie's and going "Damn -this band is great!!!".  Flirt gave us a single 45 and a 10 inch EP before vanishing from the scene and leaving us just with a few great memories of their live shows.  

Twenty years later the musical world has turned completely around.  Detroit is now regarded as the center of the musical universe and it's time to see Flirt return to the stage.  The bill also includes Blammo and the Punks.  Blammo's set consisted of a slew of covers from some of the legendary punk icons as the Dead Boys and the Dead Kennedys.  Since I'm such a punk rock elitist (Yeah - I'm the obnoxious one that always bragging about seeing the Dead Boys at Bookies or some other ancient piece of irrelevant history) - I'm always confused when I hear cover versions of punk songs - should I applaud the band for showing good taste in picking songs or do they have any business in even trying to cover those classics?  In this case I just decided to shut up and enjoy the music.

Next up were the Punks - a reunited band from the same era as at Flirt.  I have to admit that I don't remember them from that time but I certainly have enjoyed the reunited Punks the times that I have seen them recently .  And kudos go out to Mike Lewkowicz from motorcityjams.com - he's the one that put this and many other shows together.  And finally it was time for the Flirt reunion.

It's pretty easy to review shows that just totally rock and this was no exception.  Rockee's voice was as sweet as always and the Flirt sound reverberated around Alvin's with the same vengence that I still remembered.  They ran through a set some those great old tunes were always available on their records and a few songs that jarred my memory again.  (The whole set list is written below - thanks to Allen Salyer).   As always, the good shows end way too quickly and I got that too-familiar feeling of being kicked out of a bar and sent home.  However, this show was just a taste of what Flirt is planning for us - a CD and (hopefully) more shows will be on the way to keep me and a lot of other Detroit rock & rollers happy.