Watch Robert Peston and Ed Balls perform with new band Centrist Dad

ITV’s political editor Robert Peston and former Labour chancellor Ed Balls have performed with their new band, Centrist Dad, in Camden this past weekend.

The band played at a street party in Camden’s York Rise on Sunday, September 10. Peston was on mic duty while Balls served as the drummer along with John Wilson (the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Front Row) and Chris Taylor on bass and guitar.

Robert Peston on vocals & Ed Balls on drums? Why, it's 'Centrist Dad'. And any suggestion that they chose the name because it was associated with opposing socialism is entirely wrong! #GMB pic.twitter.com/afNrem1HVh

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) September 11, 2023

Massive crowd for Centrist Dad’s debut gig in North London. A great new up-and-coming band featuring @edballs, @Peston and @JohnWilson14. pic.twitter.com/5ZARDKozu6

— Dino Sofos (@dinosofos) September 10, 2023

you laugh but if Centrist Dad were playing Brixton Windmill and not Dartmouth Park the tl would be all over it https://t.co/IT5Mf8GDPu

— Aidan James (@mcandidate) September 11, 2023

Centrist Dad played many covers focusing on ’70s punk such as Sex Pistols‘ ‘Anarchy In The UK’ and Blondie‘s ‘One Way Or Another’. They also played hits by The Clash and The Ramones.

A memorable moment of the performance was when Peston crooned “I am an anti-Christ, I am an anarchist,” during their cover of the Sex Pistol hit.

As reported by the Evening Standard, the band’s name is short for “middle-aged men who yearn for a return to the ’90s.” According to Balls, the name was chosen due to all four band members being dads as well as being in the “middle of the road” in their politics. “Dads are supposed to be embarrassing and over the years I’ve overachieved,” Balls said on Good Morning Britain. 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband, the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, were both in the audience watching the band perform.

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