“Nooo requests!” shouted Colin Newman in his snotty, yet charming British accent halfway through the band’s blistering set at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia.

I thought to myself, “Wait, no requests? Boo! Ok, how about just playing my all-time favorite Wire song “The 15th?” Sure, up to that point, the set was a well-paced mix of old and new material (including songs from Pink Flag!), but I needed to hear THIS song.

I proceeded to shout out the cryptic title using my trite British accent. Yep, those around me witnessed my shitty Colin Newman impersonation and understandably winced. However, no more than 3 seconds had passed when I started to hear those loopy and ominous chords begin to play. YES! HOLY SHIT! “The 15th” in the flesh!

Sounding better than I had ever thought it would, even better than live footage I had seen from performances past, it simply blew me away. For these elder statesmen of Post-Punk, practice truly does make perfect.

(All photos courtesy of Laura Nunzi)

Wire has only a few more dates to go, so definitely catch em if you can! Their new album Object 47 is out now on Pink Flag.