The Wildhearts

here's a thought I had after reading last nights report. The set list seemed quite short.

1st time I saw the 'hearts was at the barrowlands in '95 and they played for about 2 1/2 hours in my memory serves me, got a couple of encores to boot.

last time I made it was to JB's (darkness supporting) in '02 and all in it was about 1 1/2 hours tops, got 29x and love you till I dont at the end, and not even a decent don't worry 'bout me.

whats happened there then, more albums... more songs to chose from.... shorter shows. Are curfews more stringent? perhaps the trend of 2 support acts cutting headliners stage time?

now don't get me wrong, I'm not havin a go, I've never left a show without a grin from ear to ear, and would walk 500 miles to get to a show, but I would love to stand there again and see a 2-3 hour show, see all the old faves and some rarities chucked in for good measure.

just wonderin folks, could it happen?

maybe its ginger, at the last solo show of his i was at (newcastle, june 26th) he only did 14 tracks (and 2 of those because the crowd insisted). good gig, but i thought it should of gone 3 or 4 songs longer.

so you could be right...

Band getting older?
When you are in your 40s and still insist on wearing leather jackets, under all those lights it has got to be tiring work.
Maybe they should wear cooler attire - some kind of light sportswear more appropriate for vigorous exercise. Ginger in a pair of tennis shorts? I'm sure it will catch on!

cleatus fist wrote:here's a thought I had after reading last nights report. The set list seemed quite short.

1st time I saw the 'hearts was at the barrowlands in '95 and they played for about 2 1/2 hours in my memory serves me, got a couple of encores to boot.

First time I saw them they played an hour on the full roar '94 tour. I think the '95 tour was unusual for the long sets. In general (bar the occasional special gig), its generally been 60 - 90 mins when I've seen them I think.

I'd love to get a stadium rock 2 1/2 hour show ofc - maybe they should stop having support bands...?

maybe they could get on god damn whores and howling willie for surpport heh???

Robdj wrote:Ginger in a pair of tennis shorts? I'm sure it will catch on!

Is anyone else scared at that image or is it just me?

Whats next? Battersby in a sarong?

CJ in a PVC skirt.

29xTheJames wrote:CJ in a PVC skirt.

Slightly gay for CJ

I've got no complaints about the set length. They did used to play for longer, but there were a lot of extended jams (I'm thinking Weekend, Love U Til I Don't in particular) whereas now they're as tight as the proverbial. Last night was an hour and 10 minutes (perfectly normal by most bands' standards) and it was non-stop. I was jumping around like a lunatic - any more and I'd have been a goner.

Liked both styles of set but I think I prefer the way they do it now, if I had to choose...

Just got back from the Cardiff gig, and I have to say that, although it was shorter than usual, there was something very tight and to the point about the set that I enjoyed. Having said that, the encore they did in Cardiff uni a few yars ago was simply immense (Sky Babies, Love you till I don't, Schitzophonic and 29 x the pain, if I remember right). Just a different way of doing things, I guess.

I do think the current set is crying out for one more classsic, though.

Damian wrote: Last night was an hour and 10 minutes (perfectly normal by most bands' standards) and it was non-stop. I was jumping around like a lunatic - any more and I'd have been a goner.

Personally think that 70 mins is a bit stingy - I normally hope for 1hr and 20-30mins and there are plenty of good songs to choose from these days. They need to get new flesh back in there or replace it with something else.

Damian wrote:I've got no complaints about the set length. They did used to play for longer, but there were a lot of extended jams (I'm thinking Weekend, Love U Til I Don't in particular) whereas now they're as tight as the proverbial. Last night was an hour and 10 minutes (perfectly normal by most bands' standards) and it was non-stop. I was jumping around like a lunatic - any more and I'd have been a goner.

Liked both styles of set but I think I prefer the way they do it now, if I had to choose...

I like the way they're tight on the main set. But I also loved the way they used to relax and settle into a long evening of encore when they did them. So a bit of a mix'd do me.

I'm sure the xmas show in wolverhampton was longer than a 70 min set too.

Robdj wrote:I'm sure the xmas show in wolverhampton was longer than a 70 min set too.

About 90. It was a one-off, rather than one of 25-odd, and slightly less frenetic at that...

cleatus fist wrote:1st time I saw the 'hearts was at the barrowlands in '95 and they played for about 2 1/2 hours in my memory serves me, got a couple of encores to boot.

First time for me they played five songs!