As a tribute to the Toronto concert film The Last Pogo, which captured many of the city’s first-wave punks playing the Horseshoe Tavern on 12/1/78, last month Fucked Up performed a set of covers from that legendary show at the same venue, just in time for its 35th anniversary. They did songs by the Secrets, Cardboard Brains, Teenage Heads, and the Ugly, and the session was billed as The Fucked Up Last Pogo. Here, via thelastpogo.net, is how it came about:

For a long time, CBC Radio producer Ron Skinner wanted to do something around The Last Pogo. (For those of you new to these pages, The Last Pogo was the last punk concert at the Horseshoe Tavern when it was booked by legendary Toronto promoters The Garys. Colin Brunton made a short film of it in 1978; and now after six years of work, he and filmmaking partner Kire Paputts have put together The Last Pogo Jumps Again, a sort of prequel to the original short film, and a whopper at three hours and twenty minutes.)

Ron’s original idea was to put on a big punk rock show with Fucked Up as the main act and get other acts from across Canada to sit in with them.  It proved to be a bit too much for everyone, so a few weeks ago Ron got Fucked Up to the stage of the Horseshoe Tavern at eight in the morning on a Saturday, and video-taped and recorded them doing covers of songs from bands from The Last Pogo concert. The Last Pogo concert was on December 1, 1978, so the recordings will mark the 35 years + 1 day anniversary of that show.

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Ron says everyone “walked away thinking that they had just done something really cool. Telling a story of an era that has had such an impact on music in Canada. And having Fucked Up take part in that. It was obvious how much respect the band had for the music and the trials and tribulations that punk rockers had to go through back then. They seemed honoured to be paying tribute to these bands and that night.”

Watch the performances below.

“I Wanna Be A Yank” by Cardboard Brains

“Teenage Rampage” by the Secrets

“Disorder” by the Uglys

“Picture My Face” by Teenage Head

Check out a trailer for The Last Pogo Jumps Again below.