20/9/2008 The Wildhearts @ Shepherds Bush Empire

Subject	The Wildhearts @ Shepherds Bush Empire
PostedDate	9/20/2008
	Any Wildhearts gig is something a bit special to look forward to, but this one is particularly special.  As is becoming increasingly common these days, the band have decided to play a special show and perform one of their classic albums in it's entirety. The band's frontman Ginger likes to keep his finger on the pulse and knows what the loyal Wildhearts fans want - this show is an absolute guaranteed sell out and all the tickets went months in advance! The band are going to perform all of their first (and some say finest) album 'Earth Vs The Wildhearts'. This is in my opinion their 'Appetite For Destruction', although unlike Guns 'N' Roses the Wildhearts have made several other good albums since then. Just playing this album at a show on it's own is almost the ultimate 'fan pleaser', but the band are going further than that - they are also going to play all the early B-sides! Needless to say, anticipation for this show is veryhigh.  The opening band are the Eureka Machines. This lot are terrific!  I was very impressed seeing just two of this band play an acoustic set a couple of times on Ginger's last acoustic tour. Seeing the full electric band recently in Islington was even better. Their album 'Do Or Die' is very good, but really you need to see this band live as they are excellent performers and frontman Chris has a very good line in onstage banter. This band are highly entertaining and a great choice to support the Wildhearts. I'm obviously not the only one to think so as there is a sizeable crowd watching them and obviously enjoying their set.  Then things go downhill a bit.  This venue is one of my least favourite ones - partly because it's a Carling sponsored one so the bar is overpriced and has a piss-poor selection of beer.  Every time I have been to this venue I have got the feeling I would have enjoyed the evening more if the show had been somewhere else - tonight is no exception.  I didn't arrive early enough to get a drink before Eureka Machines so I just stood and enjoyed their set.  After they finished the bars looked really busy so I decided to buy a special 'Earth Vs... 15th anniversary' T-shirt in case they sold out later on. Unfortunately, a couple of hundred other people had exactly the same idea.  There were only two people on the merch stand and service was very slow. It took me half an hour to get my T-shirt, and I missed virtually the entire set by Jon Poole's band The Godamn Whores. By then I was quite thirsty, as were a couple of hundred other (probably the same) people!  It took me 25 minutes to get served at the bar - which only had two people serving.  I was still trying to get served when the Wildhearts came on, so I got two pints and resolved to make them last as I had no intention of going through that again. By the time the band came on I was quite pissed off after my experiences of the previous hour.  Maybe Shepherds Bush Empire is an OK venue as long as it's not too full and there are enough people behind the bar... So the mighty Wildhearts launch into their set with 'Greetings From Shitsville'. Needless to say, the place goes crazy!  The sound mix was shite.  I could hardly hear the guitars for the first couple of songs, although matters did improve slightly. The band were having problems with the sound onstage as well, and Ginger apologised for the vocals possibly being out of tune as they couldn't hear anything up there. In spite of all this, it could hardly fail to be a great show - with that setlist they couldn't go wrong!  One of the amazing things at a Wildhearts show (apart from the great songs) is the atmosphere - you can't beat it! It's comparable to an Oasis gig with the way everybody is singing along - I've never heard such a loud crowd! Even the terrible sound quality can't ruin this show. The band are in great form these days, and they really play their hearts out tonight - and the crowd sing their hearts out! Ginger introduces some guests, and Jase Edwards (Wolfsbane, Ginger solo, & Godamn Whores) and Jon 'Random' Poole (Cardiacs, Wildhearts, Ginger solo & Godamn Whores) join the band on stage for a song. At the end of this song the highly popular Jon dives off the stage and crowd surfs to the back of the room - the look on his face showing that he is loving every moment of this!  'Earth Vs The Wildhearts' is a fairly long album and it took about an hour for the band to play their way through it - in the same running order as on the original album. Just this on it's own was enough of a treat for the fans.  Ginger then announced that they were going to have a short break - and then they would be back. They soon where, and what followed was also a real treat!  The band played all the early B-side songs - ten in all. As any Wildhearts fan knows, this band's B-sides are as good as their A-sides, and sometimes even better! Naturally, we got 'Caffeine Bomb' (although they nearly always play this anyway) as it was originally a B-side and not on the first version of the album. Most of these B-side songs have had a few outings over the years, but we also some some real rarities - including one or two like 'Down On London' which have never been played live before. This really was a truly historic show. Of course, we all knew what the last song was going to be before we even got to the venue - the greatest B-side of them all! I'm sure Ginger is by now as tired of playing '29 x The Pain' as Lemmy is of playing 'Ace Of Spades, but like Lemmy he realises it's 'his job' and is one of the things the fans always expect to hear. Ginger takes keeping the fans happy seriously - he knows that it's them that enable him to keep on doing what he's doing, so once more we get that song. It really is the perfect song to end on, and with the fans singing every single word (very loudly) the atmosphere is just unbeatable. In spite of the problems with the venue and the sound, it's just impossible to leave not being happy afterwards!  At the end of the show I finally managed to meet some of the many friends who I knew would be at the gig, but didn't see in the throng of around 2000 other people - and then it was off to the pub for a pint or two before legging it for the last tube.  This show really was a triumph.  So, now we've had the 'Earth Vs...' 15th anniverary show, and it was a great success - I wonder what the chances are of a 'P.H.U.Q.' 15th anniversary show as well? Or a 'Don't Be Happy...' 20th anniversary show after that? An 'Endless Nameless' show one day? Well maybe not that last one...  I'm sure there's still plenty of mileage in this idea for future years though, and I'm convinced more shows along these lines would easily sell out decent sized venues. Oi Ginger - are you reading this? Anyway, we have a 'regular' (if there could ever be such a thing) Wildhearts show to look forward to before the end of the year - at a much better venue!  It will be interesting to see what form the setlist for this show takes now that they've got all the early stuff out of the way - plenty of space for songs from more recent albums, B-sides, covers, ect. I'm sure it's going to be great whatever though. The band really are on top form these days, and have been enjoying something of the resurgance this year with their controversial but highly successful set at the Download festival, as well as critical aclaim and great shows supporting last year's 'The Wildhearts' album. Not to mention a stable lineup! Things are really starting to look up for the band. It's about time.