There’s something special about seeing bands that were at the cutting edge of a particular movement or genre, and lately Melbourne has had its fair share of iconic bands touring here. There’s just not enough time to get around to seeing all of them, which is unfortunate, because for those of us who put the importance of music up there with say, breathing, the lack of hours in the day means we have to live with the anxiety of not always being ‘there’. We, the relatively few lucky punters who witnessed the Steve Ignorant gig at The Tote on Friday night, know that what we saw was wild and amazing, and made all the more poignant, because for Steve Ignorant this tour is ‘The Last Supper’. Opening for Steve and the band were Leprosy, The Bastard Squad and The Duvtons; three Melbourne punk bands, humbled by the opportunity to warm up the crowd for one of their heroes.

Steve is the only member of the anarcho-punk band Crass to perform on the tour, and while this can sometimes mean the experience is watered-down, like poor-student’s soup, the calibre of the band members on stage ensured that the experience of seeing them was wholly worthwhile. The band has amazing credentials. Gizz Butt (not his real name, but adopted from ‘Gizzard Puke’ – The Kenny Everett Show) played guitar with the likes of The Prodigy and Janus Stark in a former life. Bob Butler (bass) played with The Tone and Schwartznegger. Spike T. Smith (drums) was with The Damned, Killing Joke, and Carol Hodge is currently with The Bad Taste Barbies. Steve has stressed all along that this tour is not comprised of a series of Crass gigs, but is a celebration of the music that is performed as an anthem of thanks to everyone involved in the Crass phenomenon.

The punters are as much a part of this story as the band itself. People who hadn’t been to a punk gig for years found the impetus to get out there and mosh-on one last time. From the eighteen year old with the bruised liver and durable Mohawk, to the older guys and women with the piercings and ink, stories were swapped about where they were when... And about how the songs of Crass changed their life. This may seem like an exaggeration or overstatement to many, but consider this: while other punk bands were singing about being anarchists and being anti this or that, Crass were walking the talk. They were one of the first bands to be involved in benefit gigs and thus to be involved in the politics of the time. Crass affected change. In “Big A, Little A” they scream, "You say you want to be yourself, but Christ, do you think they’ll let you? / We sit in Holy judgement condemning those that stray / We offer our forgiveness but first we’ll make you pay". They had an intelligent ‘go’ at the establishment, but were never about senseless brutality and destruction. They made a statement about what it was like to be working-class in the U.K. at that period in history, but also woke in many intelligent thought rather than blind acceptance. Really, the importance of this is timeless, and will never be constrained by a historical period.

To quote the words of a friend: “I am still wanking over the set list.” Steve Ignorant involved his fans in the choice of music for this final performance of the music of Crass, and found that his preferred songs were, on the whole, the same songs that the punters wanted. In fact, the music was performed totally without wank, and the true spirit of punk rock prevailed. Is punk dead? Well, there are still the establishment bullies for bands to sing about, and new and potentially fine punk outfits to make us listen and to confront our complacency... Thank God. The Victorian police will most remember Steve's words of wisdom: "If you drink and drive... Make sure you have a car."

The rest of us will know that 'The Last Supper’ actually began something new, and was definitely not the end of anything.