Sorry it's taken a while but I've been very busy & haven't had a lot of time to write up my observations from the Wildhearts' show in Seattle last week. I have read some people lumping the SF & Seattle shows together but in my mind they were two different experiences (I'm basing this on the recording of the SF concert played on the R&R Geek show).
I'll start by pointing out how the shows were similar. Specifically, the crowds. In Seattle there was a pretty good sized crowd when the band went on, a much smaller one half way through, and a miniature one by the end. I got the sense that much of the audience was there for the 3rd band on the bill (there were 4 bands). It was advertised as their final show, they are reasonably popular, & so on. They are also a hard core/punk hybrid band whose style doesn't totally mesh with that of bands that actually emphasize melodies. Also, this show happened on a Wednesday night in a town that just doesn't show or stay up in the middle of the work week. It's asking a lot for a large group of people to stay awake past midnight on a week night.
Another similarity in the sets was the set list. We were treated to the same list as the other US shows, with the exception that we were not shorted as happened in SF. As a matter of fact, Ginger did a couple of solo clean songs in the middle of the set while a guy that acted like he'd never roadied before tuned his guitar. One was "My Old Friend The Blues" & for what ever reason I can't remember what the other was. I guess this became his tune up for the NY show.
So, that's about where I feel the similarities in the shows end.
It may be excitement over finally seeing the WH play after all these years, but I was blown away by the show. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know about the crowd shrinking until after the show ended & my friend described it to me. I was front & center & my eyes never left the stage the whole show. The band was tight as hell & played everything pretty much flawlessly. A big difference between the two shows was Ritch's playing. On the recording from SF, the drums frequently sounded a little off to me. At this show he never missed a beat or made a mistake. I saw him drop a stick once but he still never got a bit off from it. He is really a very solid drummer and did an excellent job in Seattle.
About 2/3 of the way through their set, Ginger had a meltdown over what was happening with the crowd but the tone was different from what I heard on the SF recording. At our show, he calmly thanked everyone that was there and said it was nice being there but he doubted they'd be back beause it doesn't make a lot of sense to show up if no one else does. He also expressed exasperation over the music that is popular in the US and the fact that good music gets nowhere here. Every sentence or so he clarified that he was thankful for our being there but the general environment is frustrating. While I don't see the point in lamenting who isn't there, I must say that if the topic just had to be addressed he handled the subject in about as positive a manner as it could be done.
And by the way, he is right about the Seattle/American music scene.
In all, they played almost 1 hour 45 minutes worth of very, very loud rock that made me a fan of live shows again. I really wish more people had seen it but I know that those who did had a great time. It was nice getting to meet the band (I got to speak with Ginger, CJ, & Scott) and see them up close & in person. I spoke with Ginger & CJ seperately & told each of them I'd waited about 14 years to see them and they both replied in the same way - they they hope they would not disappoint.
They didn't!
