A View From The Back Of The Room: The Wildhearts (Live Review By Matt Bladen)

The Wildhearts & Backyard Babies, The Tramshed, Cardiff

Despite only playing Cardiff in May of last year the band with one of the most fiercely loyal and eclectic fan bases around returned to the Tramshed with a co-headline band and support in tow. Unfortunately we got caught up in work so we only managed to catch the final song of opening band CKY. Happily it was that song that featured on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater so the nostalgia was very high. They seemed to have a fair share of support in the audience with a lot of T-shirts visible, almost as many as their were of the headliner. They also seemed to be a two piece now. Still it would be unfair to give them a score due to my tardiness. Maybe next time.

On the stage next, were this tours co-headliner, though they always came out first, Backyard Babies (6) a Swedish sleaze band formed in 1989, they don't tour these shores much so they had a lot of support as they laid down their punchy sleaze rocking. They certainly had no shortage of movement all three guitar players strafing the stage with lead guitarist Dregen spending more time on the monitors than on the stage. They relied heavily on dual vocals from Dregen and singer Nicke Borg though Dregen's mic was noticeably higher in the mix for some reason. After a few songs my attention started to wander, as they stopped a few times to talk to the crowd for a little too long and their music is a little repetitive so it was a little difficult to remain entertained. It was when they brought out the acoustic guitars that I popped outside to cool off due to the heat in The Tramshed. Perhaps being a support rather than a co-headliner would have been better as they were playing for a too long in my opinion, still he gathered masses enjoyed it enough and were warmed properly for the main event.

With a short change over we were ready and the one time UK's most dangerous band came on to their intro track, Don't Worry Bout Me, and they kicked off with Everlone, heavier than I've seen them before this was a sprawling version with Ginger, CJ and Danny McCormick all beating their strings down while Rich Battersby held down the rhythms behind the kit. Danny has recently come back on the wagon and looks all the better for it, though the entire band are always at their best on the stage. Especially with a setlist that rarely let the pace drop drawn mainly from Earth Vs The Wildhearts and their latest release The Renaissance Men with a few other classics thrown in, the punchy Diagnosis moved into Vanilla Radio and Caffeine Bomb which got the rabble jumping up and down singing back every line, a familiar site at and show by The Wildhearts (9). Very little chatting between the songs meant things moved quickly but when Ginger does talk he's affable and funny his Geordie brogue clear as day.

They don't stop as a live act with the The Revolution Will Be Televised, moving into TV Tan "So So Hey Oh!" and Top Of The World (for anyone who discovered the band through Kerrang TV) leading into the supremely heavy new track Dislocated which is almost thrash metal meets doom. The Wildhearts mixture of punk, metal and pop makes them a band with a very broad range of followers and their down to earth manner, very publicised struggles and catchy songwriting win over even the most po-faced music snob. Quite frankly if you don't sing along to Sick Of Drugs, I Wanna Go Where The People Go or My Baby Is A Headfuck then you don't know how to have fun. With a new album in the works The Wildhearts are back to stay, keep an eye out as I'm sure they'll be back before the end of the year.