Wonder Stuff – Gig Addiction

Got to Leeds in good time. Found the cheap car park easily. Top tip; it’s Trafalgar street car park. Only £6 all day (cheaper if have Leeds Arena ticket). So much better than the rip off “The Light” etc prices. Went to the pub, had some grub.I was falling asleep in the pub,so thought a bit of fresh air would help, went to venue about 4pm. Typically, i was first person there. Had a lass ask where the box office was. She came back & said it was closed. So i suggested looking for a phone number or going round back of venue & trying to have a word with the scurity to see if they could help. She then said ” Oh! Do you not work here?”. (Damn, it’s been a while since thats happened lol.In the past i’ve even had people wanting to give their tickets to me for entry!) Me: ” No luv, i’m here for the gig myself & i’m just a nice person who likes to try help”. Girl : ” Oh thank you very much. That’s real nice of you!” *Job done, my good deed for the day!*

During the time in the queue i also saw : A very understated Mr McCarthy going into town. The lovely Katharine taking photos of the venue. She wasn’t quite so happy on her return when it was pissing it down…even under cover, the rain conspired against her when she sat to have a quick fag ; “What?! fuck you !” 😉 Oh yes, the RAIN. It wasn’t for long, but it totally chucked it down. Yup, i got a bit drenched. Amazingly, i was the ONLY person in the O2 priority queue tonight. That was funny in itself. Still, i got the spot on front row that i’d put the effort into to get 🙂
Miles had been plugging “The Lottery Winners” & quite a few made the effort to get in early to see them. They were great. Some great pop/rock. The main guy,Thomas Rylance, was a very funny chap(in a nice way). I dunno if it’s because of where they come from,but, he kind of reminded me of Johnny Vegas or Peter Kay. Brilliant when he posed for the face book photos as well. Was also great to see Digby side stage singing along to all their songs. Miles even came onstage to present them with champagne 🙂I love the way The Wedding Present start their show : Katharine playing the great bass intro,very heavily, to “You Should Always Keep in Touch With Your Friends”. She rocks! It’s strange, but somehow “back in the day” i totally missed TWP. It was at the “Indie Daze”festival in 2015 that i first saw them live. I was surprised how many of their songs i knew. So tonight is a nice bonus. There’s a bunch of classics with a couple of new songs for good measure. I particularly liked the newbie “Rachel”. The crowd loved them & when they finished off with “Brassneck” it just erupted. Bloody loved the show.
Finally the Stuffies. To think they’ve been on the go for 30 ‘kin years! Well done for keeping it together through the think n thin. I guess it’s suitably apt they kicked off with “30 years in the Bathroom”. The intro was extended with various audio snippets from their history over the years. Slow & brooding build up before the audience is full on rockin out. Only first song in & all the smiles & dancin (both off & on stage) are so inspirational. I dunno if it’s because i’d not listened to it for ages or what,but, next song “Play” i’d almost describe as a heavy metal version! It just seemed so fast! The hits just keep on coming with “On The Ropes” followed by the early days classic “Red Berry Joy Town”. Inevitably, there’s the “…words the audience are not looking forward too…time for a NEW song…”. But hey, when it’s this good as “For The Broken Hearted”, it just fits in greatly. I’m not gonna list all the songs,but, you can be sure so many of the classics were played. Something like a 25 (?) song set, your faves are gonna be in there!

I honestly don’t think there’s another band ive seen over the years where i’m always happy at their gigs jumping around etc. From first seeing them open a couple of times for “Zodiac Mindwarp” (& blowing them off stage) i just knew they’d go far. Reminiscing about it all, so many great memories came back to me during this gig. In fact, it got so damn emotional i got a bit teary…i don’t care, i just felt it all. I reckon that this is the definitive line up of The Wonder Stuff. It’s so obvious that everyone is on the same page & just bloody enjoying themselves up there. As for the audience? Not many acts can get so many 40+ year olds to dance around for a full show like The Stuffies always manage to. Roll on the next gig i’ll see in Norwich 🙂

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I was slow getting a ticket for this one so ended up in the balcony.I’ve never been in balcony before at The forum, so was interested how it would be. Knowing it was unreserved seating, i made my way there early-ish, about 45mins before doors opened. Guess what? I was the first person there! hahaha. Well, i’d get the seat i wanted 🙂

For the money, this was a great line up. I’ve seen 3 acts before & the others are all “new” to me. First up, its The “Popinjays”. A guy, a girl, a guitar & prerecorded tracks. It was ok but didn’t really interest me much tbh. Next was “Back To the Planet”. Again, i knew nothing about them. They were a LOT of fun. Really got a groove going & i’ll try check em out more. I’m actually annoyed with myself that i didn’t video anything 🙁

Next it was “Eat”. Hadn’t heard anything by them etc but i was aware that Malc Treece (ex Wonder Stuff) was a band member, so that peaked my interest. A nice set but the sound wasn’t fantastic. The vocals seemed a bit too low in the mix.

Next it’s The Primitives. I’ve only previously seen them one time before, back in the old days, at Rock City 1988…where they were supported by Goodbye Mr Mackenzie (Hello my Garbage friends 😉 ). Todays showing was as if the clock had stood still. Tracey was still the same diminutive lady from years back. Dancing around most of the time,pulling shapes & playing the tamborine as well. I saw online that someone thought she didn’t seem too happy though, due to lack of smiles. Whatever, it seemed fine to me 🙂

PWEI were bloody great. First song in & i really wished i was downstairs amongst it jumping around with every one else. They really brought the party to the Forum tonight. Best band of the day for me so far.

So The Wedding Present ? Strangely, for whatever reason, our paths didn’t cross “back in the day” ! So this is all totally new to me. They were also going to play all of their “classic album” “Bizarro”…so even a classic was new to me haha. They were ok. A few moments really rocked, where i wasn’t expecting it tbh. I absolutely LOVED the Bass sound 😉

Finally, the Wonder Stuff. I’ve seen them many times over the years & my journey started where they opened for (& blew off stage) Zodiac Mindwarp back in 1988. I’ve never seen a bad show from them (even when there were internal tensions within the band). I fucking love this band ! If ever there was a statement of intent said, that would sum up a gig,then the opening words of Miles said it all about tonight ” I’m fucking well up for this ! “. Starting with “Red Berry Joy Town”, then straight into “On The Ropes”, it was hit after hit…ok, they might not technically all be “chart hits” but in my heart they are….& i’m sure it’s just the same for many others in the crowd.

Miles really seems to be in a very good place nowadays. He’s one very happy geezer. As ever, i loved the little stories about a couple of songs.
“Friendly Company” was good if you’re a foodie, but, i loved how he dropped Erica in it by saying she didn’t like “Cartoon Boyfriend” ! *queue the boos* .Apparently, when she auditioned for the band, she “Didn’t bother to learn it”
as she didn’t think much too it! She likes it now though & Miles “Finally has a member of The Wonder Stuff who will answer me back!”

We got a brand new song which will be on the next album released next year, “Days Of the Feast” & it sounded great.The last 6 or so songs were absolute belters from the early catalogue. Finishing with the irrepressible ” Ten Trenches Deep”, what a fucking great show that was !