After downing a bottle of white wine ( and out of the bottle may I add ) , I ventured last minute to see the wildhearts in Shepherds Bush .
Having never been to the venue before I was very impressed ; theatre like surroundings and I enjoyed the fact that when you got down into the crowd, when you looked backwards there were boxes of crowds of people .
The beer took a little too long to be served and I was consequently two pinting it all night and becoming very drunk . Being alone I chatted to everyone and the hardcore wildhearts fans were a friendly bunch.
As for the gig itself Ginger declared that the first part of the set would be new songs and the second part all the old classics. I thought this was excellent gig tactics and had never seen it like that before.
Having previously loved the wildhearts stuff back in 96 I had watched Ginger and the band twice in my youth and loved them .
With a new american lead singer the songs are very crisp and clean cut while still sticking to the gregorious riffs characteristic of the wildhearts . The lead singer has an excellent voice and fits in well .
I also recognize that Ginger does not utter a single lyric in some of the songs , and although i respected the confidence to use Ginger only when needed I can’t help but think that die hard wildhearts fans could be disapponted . Nevertheless the new songs are of a high technical standard and the crowd down the front are particularly boisterous and moshing .
The second part of the gig begins and the classics begin; tv tan , caffeine bomb and suckerpunch all ring true . They are all excellent and the crowd love it , however I can’t help but feel that the songs now feel a little dated . There is more than a hint of cheese. It is still very enjoyable though and I manage to drunkenly get myself down to the front to watch just in lust with it’s funky baseline bridge and then sick of drugs .
Finally wildhearts finish with a crowd favourite , I want to go where the people go and everyone sings . It’s a nice tune and one of their better classics . It must be catchy as almost 14 years later Im shouting most of the words .
I stumble out of the gig feeling happy, drunk and hyper active and if that’s what bands seek to do when playing a gig then the wildhearts definitely succeeded in my view.
S.
