Shepherds Bush Empire is an amazing venue. An old Theatre, it has all the carvings intact and painted as if for a vaudeville show. You half expect Flanagan and Allen to emerge on stage and the place is full of grey and balding heads, pot bellies and faded tour T-shirts that are now 20 years old. It looks like the last stand of the '80's children until the music starts and the years roll back but let's start at the beginning.
This is the Wildhearts celebrating 20 years since the release of the album "Phuq". Support is from Hey Hello and Baby Chaos and both were stunning, Baby Chaos blew my socks off and I will be investing in some of their CD's.
The Wildhearts took to the stage with "I wanna go where the people go" and what a start to a show. It was great to hear the album played back to back but as with all Wildheart shows, it is the not knowing what is coming next that is part of the experience and despite the fact that "Phuq" is a fine album, I prefer to see them when they just play whatever they and we want. The criticism is based purely upon the fact that they have such an amazing repertoire (you can't please everyone!), however, they are still one of the finest live bands I have ever seen. I smiled, teared up, laughed, sang my heart out and had an amazing time. The encores were a run through of
Here is "In Lilly's Garden" and "Getting It", not from London unfortunately:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fOnhHire4g
The crowd were old, a year older than last year but too old to be moshing but they did anyway and in the most good natured way, security guards were picking people off the floor and people helped the security guard up when he fell over. The alcohol was flowing freely and the "old enough to know betters" will be paying the price today, creaking and vowing never again but hopefully we can do this again next year.
Go and see Ginger and the Wildhearts, this is a man and a band that have one of the finest back catalogs of any artist, they can rock, they have a punk attitude and they have the most incredible hooks, saccharine sweet and wrapped in an iron bar, leaving you bruised with a smile on your face.
I will add some pictures at somepoint but I just wanted to get the blog out before England Vs Wales, last night was a great night and I am relieved to have the rugby tonight because last time I saw the Wildhearts I crashed badly afterwards, the colour faded for a little while as pathetic as it sounds, but this time around I have the Rugby (apologies to Georgia and Argentina for missing their match) to keep my on the high.
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