Beer and bodies flew overhead as Wolfmother rocked the final gig of their European tour. As vocalist Andrew Stockdale rightly said, “where better to end up than London?”
 
The Wolfmother beast awakened with the sporadic bursts of Dimensions as purple and white strobes lit up big hair and bigger sounds.  
 
They swiftly cracked on, unleashing catchy energy with Cosmic Egg’s New Moon Rising. These were eagerly received by those who didn’t float back to the bar for refills ready for the weighty classics Woman and biggest head-banger of the evening, White Unicorn.
 
The packed venue and high energy saw Andrew fall and take out an amp during a fiery solo. After making sure it was OK he rambled back to the audience who gave Andrew’s wizardry locks an affectionate pat.
 
Apart from voicing a dedication to Andrew’s cousin Mark (whose London couch he surfed on and g-string he broke) the band’s energy was focused on their music and they didn’t disappoint.

Their trademark psychedelic rock and powerful vocals had the crowd hypnotised at times, notably transfixed by Mind’s Eye – although they may have lost a few people with a perplexing rendition of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights.
 
Overall the boys sounded awesome even if the bass and guitar seemed turned down a notch. Joker and the Thief was a satisfying finish. It’s not good-bye for long though, the Wolfmother machine will be back in January, February 2010.
 

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.

Sure , we had had a few drinks but Camden Town was a sight to behold for us. As soon as we saw the street leading to Camden Lock the words ‘We’re moving here’ dribbled out of our mouths. Fantastic walls with amazing colour and huge pieces of art such as a 10ft tall old fashioned chair sticking out of a wall satisfied our new found lust for CartoonLand in Camden Town.

What a venue. As we stumbled in we knew that this was somewhere special. Having read the reviews ( I read reviews from everything like sofas to bread) I knew this was a 5 star venue.

I had first seen Senser in about 1994 and this was my first ‘proper’ (with respect to taste ) gig.

It was Michael Jackson in Cardiff Arms Park prior to that. My heart was only there for Kris Kross, who supported. Not really. Jump. Jump. How do i spell wiggidawiggidawigggidawack? May i say the whole concert was superb : Skunk Anansie supported and shook the timbers, then Senser obliterated the audience.

Being this was nearly 15 years ago, to be fair Senser have still got it. Heitham Al Sayed and Kerstin work excellently together with their body winding and they shout their words as my singing teacher always told me to do it : like youre violently projectile vomiting your lyrics as far as you can across the room.

Being a huge fan of their first album ‘ Stacked Up’ I feel that I may not be the only one who is resigned to loving this work the best. Everything since has been better than average but Stacked Up was a hard act to follow, with the likes of States of Mind, Switch and Eject. This fact was made extremely pronounced for me as they played new song and old song alternatively. The crowd was definitely up for the new tunes and they still managed to send the obligatory shiver down the spine, however there was definitely a twin cam burst when the old songs were played .

From the moment Senser come on the crowd are thrown into their new track ‘Resistance Now’ which is catchy enough to have the crowd shouting those words. They then play States of Mind on which point I drag the Barbie down to the front. The crowd is rampant.

I am impressed with the way that after 15 years of touring that Senser are able to maintain the crowds energy. Apart from the odd empty phase of music (wish i guess may be due to the lack of computer effects that simply are not viable to produce in a live show) the effect is magnificent. Even if there is a slight energy-quiet phase you can always count on the guitars to come busting back in with a tremendous riff.

Overall i felt the gig was excellent, superb acoustics, fantastic venue, wonderful atmosphere and Senser were enjoying themselves and this was transcribed through to the crowd. Having seen them in a similar venue in Cardiff I can say that they were a little better this time, partly due to the fact that their new album is a little better than their last, with two or three tunes really standing out for me.

But nothing will beat the favourite Age of Panic. Like the ever accelerating train in the end of Speed it is locomotive and impulsive. Suprisingly Senser have stubbornly stuck to their transformation from rap / thrash to a punk and more trippy style (especially with the increased presence of Kirsten’s vocals) which they have maintained for the last nine years.

It almost pulls off, but not quite. Still better than 2007, and I will be purchasing their album to stay loyal to the fact that I am a die hard Senser fan . All the best to you Senser, you will still see me in the crowd with my hands in the air every time you gig near me.

S

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senser