The Wildhearts, Massive Wagons & Towers Of London, Tramshed Cardiff
Apologies to Towers Of London (remember them?) as we arrived at The Tramshed to catch any of their set unfortunately, however we were in time to once again watch Lancaster rockers Massive Wagons (6), who have a really rabid following from the Planet Rock/Steelhouse crowd but still I can't see why. Yes they give a high energy performance on stage especially their frontman, but none of their songs really stick with me, they just sound like an amalgamation of their influences without any unique stamp, good musicians, good performers but I found myself bored after the third song. Still they and Towers Of London are the sort of in-your-face support acts you want for probably one of the most dangerous, take-no-shit rock acts ever to come out of the British rock scene.
If you ever want to see joy, I mean pure unadulterated joy then go to a The Wildhearts (9) gig. For years now they have been playing to some of the most ferociously loyal fans in the rock world. The hardcore know every line of every song, singing each one back in unison to the band. They have been a little reclusive in Wales, as Ginger himself noted falling in and out of favour, however on the back of touring their first album in 10 years, (Renaissance Men to be reviewed), they once again returned to the Welsh capital. It was amazing to see even the new songs garnered a sing along despite the record only being out for four days (now that is a noisy holiday with that on repeat). From the opening chords of Dislocated the amassed punk, rocker, normy and greebo faithful at the front were bouncing and throwing their hands into the air with complete disregard that this was a Monday night and most would have to be in work tomorrow.
What was also noticeable from the first note is that this relationship between band and crowd is reciprocal as The Wildhearts hit the stage without any fanfare (except their intro track Don't Worry About Me), this is a band that have been carving out a living for so long, with a history that would make Motley Crue wince. However they have endured and proceeded to plough through one of the most energetic (and loud) sets of rock n roll I've seen in the Tramshed, there fuck-them-all attitude permeating from the front to the back creating a frenzy as they hit early with Vanilla Radio and the wild Suckerpunch. The crowd participation was relentless through Sick Of Drugs, Top Of The World and Caffeine Bomb, along with everything in between this was a masterclass of keeping the crowd eating out of your hand.
Ginger is a frontman who lives for the stage leading ably from the front with his rough as a badgers voice and guitar stabs aided by the tight as fuck remaining Wildhearts, CJ taking his position to the right of the frontman as the other founding member punching out riffs while Ritch (drums) and Danny (bass) powered a bottom end that made the ears buzz. The setlist was mixed between new album tracks, selected cuts from the discography and obviously some of the singles, it was masterclass in how to crank out a set of rock meets punk meets pop at ear splitting volume. Due to the brief nature of many of their songs they blitzed through their set playing something like 14 tracks int he main set culminating with Love You Till I Don't.
Apologies to Towers Of London (remember them?) as we arrived at The Tramshed to catch any of their set unfortunately, however we were in time to once again watch Lancaster rockers Massive Wagons (6), who have a really rabid following from the Planet Rock/Steelhouse crowd but still I can't see why. Yes they give a high energy performance on stage especially their frontman, but none of their songs really stick with me, they just sound like an amalgamation of their influences without any unique stamp, good musicians, good performers but I found myself bored after the third song. Still they and Towers Of London are the sort of in-your-face support acts you want for probably one of the most dangerous, take-no-shit rock acts ever to come out of the British rock scene.
If you ever want to see joy, I mean pure unadulterated joy then go to a The Wildhearts (9) gig. For years now they have been playing to some of the most ferociously loyal fans in the rock world. The hardcore know every line of every song, singing each one back in unison to the band. They have been a little reclusive in Wales, as Ginger himself noted falling in and out of favour, however on the back of touring their first album in 10 years, (Renaissance Men to be reviewed), they once again returned to the Welsh capital. It was amazing to see even the new songs garnered a sing along despite the record only being out for four days (now that is a noisy holiday with that on repeat). From the opening chords of Dislocated the amassed punk, rocker, normy and greebo faithful at the front were bouncing and throwing their hands into the air with complete disregard that this was a Monday night and most would have to be in work tomorrow.
What was also noticeable from the first note is that this relationship between band and crowd is reciprocal as The Wildhearts hit the stage without any fanfare (except their intro track Don't Worry About Me), this is a band that have been carving out a living for so long, with a history that would make Motley Crue wince. However they have endured and proceeded to plough through one of the most energetic (and loud) sets of rock n roll I've seen in the Tramshed, there fuck-them-all attitude permeating from the front to the back creating a frenzy as they hit early with Vanilla Radio and the wild Suckerpunch. The crowd participation was relentless through Sick Of Drugs, Top Of The World and Caffeine Bomb, along with everything in between this was a masterclass of keeping the crowd eating out of your hand.
Ginger is a frontman who lives for the stage leading ably from the front with his rough as a badgers voice and guitar stabs aided by the tight as fuck remaining Wildhearts, CJ taking his position to the right of the frontman as the other founding member punching out riffs while Ritch (drums) and Danny (bass) powered a bottom end that made the ears buzz. The setlist was mixed between new album tracks, selected cuts from the discography and obviously some of the singles, it was masterclass in how to crank out a set of rock meets punk meets pop at ear splitting volume. Due to the brief nature of many of their songs they blitzed through their set playing something like 14 tracks int he main set culminating with Love You Till I Don't.
During the encore the audience began to sing the intro of Don't Worry About Me at the top of their voices until the band came back on. Then Ginger explained they were going to do something weird as they mimed to new song and next single Renaissance Men, this was because they were recording it for a new video, but it did feel odd for both the crowd and the band, still that's show-business. They made up for it of course though with the last few songs ending the night with My Baby Is A Headfuck and I Wanna Go Where The People Go for the nutters in the pit as they chanted in unison, though the lack of 29x The Pain did leave a few of the die-hards a little perturbed. Still if there was ever a band who played by their own rules it's The Wildhearts, one of the most entertaining live bands on the scene with the maddest audience for sure, a pure joy!