overlap

If it's a monday night just before xmas, this must be Wolverhampton, with The Wildhearts, some bunch of Americans I'm barely familiar with and, crucially for my bothering to make the effort to get there, a classic Brit metal band getting back on stage for the first time in a while. The torrential rain on the M5 and the associated driving standards meant I didn't catch all of the first bunch, but I'm glad I saw what I did. Tragedy is an appropriate name for a Bee Gees cover band, but it'll be interesting to see where it takes them. From the back of the room I did half wonder if it was AntiProduct's Alex Kane as they have a certain visual similarity from a distance, though vocally they sound rather more like Love/Hate, or Skid Row, or several others of that particular ilk. Hayseed Dixie are a fantastic comedy tribute band, but I'm still not convinced covering just the one act has much longevity to offer. We'll see. Around the end of my regular reading of Kerrang! there was one name that kept coming up. Predictably praised by Ginger, it took a bit of effort to get to see A for the first time but it was worth the trouble. With a name that's great for finding in the record racks but terrible for tracking down in the information age, I watched them grow through several albums as far as hit singles and Top Of The Pops, and enjoyed every bit. Turns out I last saw them in 2002, which wasn't all that long before they sort of ran out of steam and found other things to do with their time. While Dan Carter may be busy with Radio One and other projects, John Mitchell has ably stepped into the breach playing bass. Otherwise we have a full complement of the Perry boys, and Mark Chapman on guitar. The Hi-fi Serious album in particular takes me back to a time in my life when all sorts of things were going on, and it’s especially good to hear Going Down again. Where Old Folks talks of people who are ‘almost thirty now’, for many of those the title of this post is now of greater relevance, coming from a b-side track on the House Under The Ground single called ‘40’, as even Jason complains that being thirty-nine he needs to catch his breath between songs. Of course he could save his breath by talking a bit less nonsense, but that’s all part of the appeal and I’m not sure anyone would have it any other way. Fantastic to see them again after all this time. That setlist in full: Rush Song/ Monkey Kong/Starbucks/Going Down/The Distance/Old Folks/Foghorn/Nothing Jason Perry in 'oh no, I look like a fat Sting!' shocker. It’s often the case that gigs which have some sort of difficulty to overcome attached to them turn out to be that little bit more special than something that’s just another thoroughly competent show. While not quite on the scale of the stunning atmosphere of the All About Eve show where Julianne’s voice was going and she managed just half a dozen songs, this was one such performance as Ginger’s voice was noticeably compromised by the effects of recent touring. It meant we got a lot more of CJ’s vocals turned up in the mix, and a surprisingly chirpy Ginger doing those songs he could manage without further damaging his throat. Someone That Won’t Let Me Go would have been enough for a really good gig, as to be honest I don’t listen to a lot of their back catalogue very often these days. And while there’s always a drawn out Caprice that I could happily live without, there’s also always a Just In Lust or a Red Light Green Light to rip through with plenty of goodwill to see it through rather than have the gig pulled. It was on my mind that I could happily leave after STWLMG, and as it turned up the third song in the set I could have been in for a relatively early night. As it turned out, I stayed right through to the bitter end, so much was I enjoying it. Probably the most enjoyable of the last half dozen or so times I’ve seen them, and definitely heightened by the struggle to keep Ginger’s voice going, and the welcome return of My Baby Is A Headfuck. Surprisingly excellent.

Labels: A, gigs, The Wildhearts, Tragedy