25/9/2015 The WiLDHEARTS & Hey! Hello! @ Shepherds Bush Empire

Shepherds Bush Empire is another venue I have added to my 'Non-drinking' list due to their poor quality beverages and rip-off prices. I had started going to the O'Neil's pub on the corner for before/after gig beers instead, but had found it less than satisfactory. A little online research revealed a Wetherspoons in the shopping centre next to the green - why hadn't I discovered this years ago? Suitably refreshed I head off to the venue and arrive with a few minutes to spare before opening act Hey! Hello! This is a new band from Ginger and seems to be his current favourite project. It's also been popular with his (and the Wildhearts) fans as well as getting good reviews and radio play on the rock stations - although the BBC continue to pretend this band doesn't exist. They never liked the Wildhearts much either so I guess that's no surprise. Ginger seems to have been doing quite well for the last few years without any help from the BBC so maybe he's not bothered... One can't help but get the feeling that certain bands and artists are secretly and inexplicably blacklisted by some stations who's format you would think they'd fit right into. Nothing changes but the shoes...

My train of thought seems to have become derailed - getting back on track; There have been some changes in the Hey! Hello! camp over the past year. Original singer Victoria Liedtke who appeared on the band's self titled debut album has gone. Her place has been taken by Hollis Mahady from Love Zombies - who seems to have fitted in very well. The other change is only temporary: the second guitar spot has previously been filled on live shows (Ginger played all the instruments on the album) by ex-Towers Of London and Prodigy lead guitarist the Rev. He's currently taking time out as he's just become a father and on this tour his place is taken by the very capable Chris Catalyst from the brilliant Eureka Machines.

Hey! Hello! are a very different band to the Wildhearts, and quite deliberately so. This is much more of a pop/punk outfit, but still with a dark edge if you dig a little deeper. Ginger seems to be enjoying this project enormously - both on stage where he doesn't have to sing lead vocals, and in the studio where he is enjoying working on the next Hey! Hello! album. Ginger seems very keen on being  just a songwriter and guitarist in this band and is devoting great enthusiasm to this project.

This is the first time I've seen Hey! Hello! with Hollis singing - Victoria was very bouncy and lively and a hard act to follow, but Hollis throws herself wholeheartedly into this project and is full of energy! She tears around the stage like a human dynamo and really knows how to work a crowd. With a rhythm section of original AntiProduct bassist Toshi (Chris Catalyst also had a spell in AntiProduct on bass duties) and Ai on drums this is a very good live band - they all look and perform like stars. Unfortunately the 30 minute set time doesn't allow the band to play the whole of their album and How I Survived The Punk Wars is conspicuous by it's absence. However, we did get 'Honour' - the song Ginger wrote, sung, and recorded with Courtney Love, and the incredibly catchy 'Swimwear' for the 'Hey! Hello!' album. All too soon the band's set is over, but it's great fun! Anybody wanting more will be able to catch the band on their own headline tour later this year... As you can see, my pictures are rubbish as usual these days - but if you want to see some really good pictures of Hey! Hello! then I suggest you go and look at the ones taken at this gig by the excellent Trudi Knight here. There's loads of them!

Next up are the recently reformed Baby Chaos. They also have a new album to promote.

After seventeen years away this Scottish  band are still full of energy. However, they didn't really connect with me first time round and they don't tonight either. They have some good riffs, decent songs, and they still seem passionate about what they do. They certainly play well enough, but to me there is something missing - that spark, that star quality - that something special that makes them stand out from the crowd. They don't look like 'rock stars' - they don't look like a band. They just look very ordinary - like some blokes in the pub. Oasis or Blur could get away with that because they had songs you would remember even if they looked boring, but even though Baby Chaos play OK tonight there is nothing to make me remember them. Which is probably why they never made it first first time around.

On to the headliners - a band who have never let me down live. This WiLDHEARTS show is a bit special - well they all are to some of us. But what makes the shows on this tour even more specialler (is that a word? It is now) is that the band's second album 'P.H.U.Q.' is being performed in it's entirety - for the first time ever. And also the last. It's definitely one of the best albums they have ever made and contains many songs that have gone on to become classics/fan favourites over the years. Personally, I would say it's one of their two best albums - the other one being their debut 'Earth Vs The Wildhearts'. This is certainly a gig most Wildhearts fans really won't want to miss. It's hard to believe that this album is now twenty years old - it hasn't dated at all. This must be an odd experience for the band's highly popular guitarist C.J. as he wasn't actually on the P.H.U.Q.' album due to being fired as it was being recorded - something Ginger has since admitted was a mistake. However, C.J. has been back int the band for many years now and it feels like he has never been away. Original Wildhearts bassist Danny McCormack has also been absent from the band for a few years now so only half of the band on stage tonight were actually on the original album. Judging from the terrific atmosphere in the venue tonight these details aren't of massive importance to the fans.

The band kick off their set with the enormously popular album opener 'I Wanna Go Where The People Go' - a song which is more usually heard closing the set. What a fantastic song to start with though! Many of the songs on the album have only rarely been played live in the past, and song of them never - making this show all the more special. It must have been quite a challenge to learn some of the album's long and complicated arrangements. The band do a pretty good job of reproducing this record - originally meant to be a double album until the record company decided otherwise. However, most the other songs intended for the double album later surfaced on the fan club only release 'Fishing For Luckies' - so hopefully we can look forward to a tour to play all those songs next? As promised, the band play the entire P.H.U.Q. album - needless to say it goes down a storm! There is even a little surprise at the end as Ginger introduces a special guest - they have tracked down the lady who screams 'SHUT UP!' right at the very end of the album to stop the 'on and on and on and on...' chant. She performs her screeching part to close the set and the band leave the stage to thunderous applause!

The P.H.U.Q. album clocks in at around 50 minutes - so then what? After a short break the band return for what is effectively a 'greatest hits' set - minus the P.H.U.Q. songs obviously, but it's not like the band have a shortage of other material to draw from - far from it! It's a Friday night, so 'Weekend' is a very appropriate song to start the second set. The remainder of the evening consists mostly of songs from earlier in the band's combustive career, although 'Mazel Tov Cocktail' from the band's most recent album 'Chutzpah' gets an airing - Scott Sorry who was the bassist on this album was originally due to play on this tour but for reasons unexplained his place has been taken by the ever popular and more than capable Jon 'Random' Poole - for my money a far better all round musician. The ten song long second set contains crowd favourites like 'Everlone', 'Suckerpunch', 'Geordie In Wonderland', 'Sick Of Drugs', and the inevitable '29 x The Pain' as well as Ginger taking over Danny's vocal duties for the rarely heard 'Anthem' from the infamous 'Endless Nameless' album - definitely something for everyone there! Maybe we will get a tour for that album as well one day?

Ginger was smartly dressed for the Wildhearts part of tonight's show, while he seemed to very much dress down for the Hey! Hello! set - looking much more rock 'n' roll in jeans and a leather biker jacket covered in patches. Was I the only one to be surprised at this and expect it to be the other way around? Was this deliberate? Maybe so as Ginger has always been a bit of a contrary bastard. Maybe he just likes to keep people guessing - or maybe I'm reading too much into it and he didn't even give it a thought? Whatever, the music was great, the band played really well, and they all seemed really into it. Ginger said they have all enjoyed this tour much more than they were expecting, and C.J. has said it was one of the best tours he has ever been on!

It's certainly been a terrific night, and both band and audience seem to have thoroughly enjoyed it! Ginger has said recently that he is never likely to write another Wildhearts album (although surely a Pledge campaign for one would hit target in record time!) and anyone familiar with the band's and particularly Ginger's personal history should understand why. However, he has also said that he thinks the Wildhearts will continue to play live for the time being. It's a given that he can take the band out on tour once a year and they will continue to sell tickets probably for several years to come - maybe longer.... There are still plenty of albums left that the band can do 'anniversary tours' for, and I'm sure the demand from the fans is still there that they could just take a standard Wildhearts show out on tour - it's not like there is any shortage of both familiar and rarely (or never) before heard songs to fill setlists for many years to come..... As regards any possibility of future Wildhearts albums - I'm not holding my breath, but it's not by any means unknown for Ginger to change his mind about things. I believe what he says on the subject now - but who knows what the future might hold? As long time followers have learned over the years regarding both Ginger and the Wildhearts: the one thing you can expect - is the unexpected.

See you next year then?

PS: For loads of terrific pictures from this show go to see Trudi Knight's photos here.