Manchester Gig...

[my3dtvtan]

Ok, now they have rebuilt the Manc academy 1 can anyone tell us weather the cloakroom is up and running at the venue?
Trivial question really but this is the first gig Ive ever been to alone( ) and I plan on getting a LOT of merch if the Cambridge reports are anything to go by.

Oh an I will (possibly) wet myself if they play Urge or Nurse Maximum! It only took a decade or so but finally EN songs are back in the set. At least I hope. It annoys me when they do those "first night of the tour tryout setlist" gigs....

But hey for the third time in a couple of monthes, bring on the Wildies live this Wednesday

[fluffygrue]

It wasn't last Tuesday.. it was still the "no cloakroom and toilets in portacabins" state. You could always just try to get merch afterwards? :/

(And feel free to say hi if you spot me.. I'm somewhere in the 'post a pic' thread. )

[Alteredcarbon]

I'll most likely be going past it tomorrow so I can let you know if they've fixed it by then. Doubt it, though

[Yayhoo]

Was there last night.
Didn't notice a cloakroom and they still have the portacabins outside for the tiolets.
Oh yeah, and the bar is now down the side. So at least you don't have to miss any of the band while going for a beer but its still hard work when it gets busy.

[fluffygrue]

Oh yeah, and the bar is now down the side. So at least you don't have to miss any of the band while going for a beer but its still hard work when it gets busy.

Well.. depends who you see. Can't say I had much trouble getting served at the Hellogoodbye gig..

But yeah.. there'll be a big bar queue for the WH as it's usually woefully understaffed, so you may as well get plenty of drinks beforehand in the Salisbury or Grand Central.

[Alteredcarbon]

Went past it today and they still had the 'no cloakroom' posters up so looks like you'll have to carry everything.

[fluffygrue]

Anyone meeting up for drinks beforehand, then?

edited to add: Guess that's a no, then. Well, I'll be wearing my Ramones-stylee WH t-shirt, a NIN hoodie, and hair in bunches with Christmas tree hair bobbles. Say hi if you spot me.

[sonicadz]

Man, THAT was fucking awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

The absolute best I've seem em. Sounded awesome, looked awesome and man what a set list. Unbroken was fucking great as an opener. My hearing still isn't back, but I don't care

Thank you and god bless the wildhearts!!!

Merry christmas to all

[Dave C]

I had quite a night last night, let me take you through the highlights.

Tickets never arrived so I phoned See Tickets, who kindly arranged for me to pick the up at the box office.
Got lost (again) finding the venue, thanks to stupid sister that can't read simple directions.
Finally arrived to find that See Tickets hadn't arranged for me to pick up my tickets from the box office as I'd arranged. Spent 15 mins or so on the phone to See Tickets trying to persuade them to talk to the box office hag to let us in.
The Academy box office hag flatly refused to re-issue my tickets, forcing me to buy more. Then she wouldn't accept my card because it would take, and I quote "two minutes to go through", luckily I had some cash on me, which was earmarked for a hoodie and a t-shirt. That all got spent on new tickets, £55 incidently. Thats well over £100 in tickets so far.
Missed the support acts entirely, bit gutted about that.
Met Chris Catalyst again, what a nice bloke he truly is, a gent if ever there was one.
Saw the Wildhearts and loved every damn second of it, man they were so good last night.
Got lost on way home thanks to useless wife not being able to tell left from right. We nearly ended up in Liverpool, which is bad considering we live near the Lake District.
Missed interview for promotion due to being on the sick too.

Happy Xmess people.
Don't use See Tickets. Ever!

[my3dtvtan]

OH MY GOD! How incredible was that!!

After all my worrying about the "building site" Academy 1 the gig was changed to Academy 2 anyway...

First off Damone were so-so. Some great sections of Maiden riffing but overall not brilliant.

Ok, before the gig I'd only herd of Wolfsbane in referance to Jase Edwards but man am I gutted I havent been listening to these for years! Got right down the front not for them but cos I reasoned that Id never have a chance if I left it any later and boy was I glad I did. The second a middle aged greasy overweight ugly bastard came out in a home made "filthy sex" tee I knew they were something special Fuckin hillarious from start to finish and genuinely appreciative of the audience praise, I felt like Id had the admission fee's worth by the end! They where that bloody good!

Anyhoose, The Wildes were who everyone went to see and I gotta say thats the best time Ive seen them! First off the drum tech came out with huge Y-fronts over his jeans to some funny looks from the crowd who just thought It was a quirk. But then one by one the guitar tech, the legend that is Hot Steve and Gavin the premoter all whent bagstage and returned with comical Y-fronts!? The funnyist part was that they where obviously pissing themselves with laughter but trying to stay unaware of waht was going on. Couldnt get any randomer? Erm your wrong. Shure enough Ritch, Scott, Cj, and Ginger all come out with pants over their jeans and kept them on the whole set! Anyone have any insight in to this???

As for the set everybody (even CJ) looked really happy and their stage preasence has never been better! Gingers banter was funny as hell and he had a kind of positive glow about him that instantly rubbed off on the crowd. The stylophone made a guest apperance to usher in Wonderland and it wore me out just LOOKONG at Scott bounding arround the stage! INCREDIBLE! No Zomboid (despite crys from the audience) but a cracking Nurse Maximum and Urge and even a brilliant surprise apperance of Shes All That cos "Its Christmas". 29X, Nina Nitro, Destroy All Monsters - THE perfect set!

Still no hearing and Im probly gonna collaps at work but well worth it!!! Gratest band in the world are at their best point in 15 years!

Ill tell you if anthing else comes back to me...

[Charger]

Just registered to say how awesome last night was!
seen them 3 times this year now along with about 30 other gigs this year and they're definately the best of the lot...
Wolfsbane were ace too I think its about 15 years since I've seen them.
Got there too late for damone due to traffic

[marky-boy]

great night boyos, and it must be my fifteenth time seeing them, wolfsbane were great and it was great to meet blaze before the gig - nice chap

[robdy2k]

(edit - sorry for the double post - wasn't sure where to post as there are two threads)

Had an amazing WH experience last night - avoided the boards to be surprised by the set and was I ever surprised.

Felt a bit begrudging buying The New Flesh having bought the Jap edition of The Wildhearts which meat I already had Oh Bonita!, but when they opened with Unbroken my jaw hit the floor and I made a b-line straight for the front. Seeign Hot Steve rocking out to it in the wings was ace too and gave me more verve... GREAT SONG, BETTER LIVE THAN STUDIO!

From there to '...People Go' at the end the show was abso-flippin-lutley FAB! The band have clearly gone from strength to strength since last years Xmas shows. They were a shit-hot band then, but IMHO were resting on the laurels of the previous line up of the band somewhat, with the set being essentially the same as most of those post reformation. This felt like a new beginning and my prayers about new-shit being played were answered to the point of thinking 'did they play too much'?

The set definately highlighted the fact that The Wildhearts album is DAMN HEAVY! and the riffs are somtimes really relentless (Destroy All Monsters - great intro BTW - 'CHI-OYLD' ), but when you've got a song as quality as The Hard Way it makes it all worth while. Great to hear that live. (think I'm gonna run out of superlatives here...)

Now then. The real jewel in the crown for me was the Endless Nameless stuff. I have NEVER in my 13 years a WH fan heard a single EN album track live (b-sides granted but not an album track)... Nurse Maximum and URGE made me wet my pants with delight (not literally... although if I was a girl they might have ). These songs sparkle live... without the OTT distortion of the record they are clearly amazing tunes which I would be happy to see in the set for the next ten years. PissJoy would have been great but I ain't greedy... the Enigma of Endless Nameless live has been destroyed for me last night and I'm eternally greatfull for that!

Finally - She's All That - LIVE - who'd have thought? The track causing most division on the boards when the album came out getting an airing. Personally I thought that it was only on the last few choruses that the band nailed the three part harmoney, but Ginger's rendition on the Verse's was ACE, a great live song I think... prefer it to say 'So Into You' for sure...

The Wildhearts are in the truest sense a great band now. Amazingly they still look FANTASTIC on stage (unlike Wolfesbane who don't scrub up TOO badly - not too sure about Blaze's 'Dirty Sex' T-Shirt mind - but they're not a patch on Ginger's suave new style, CJ's eternal youth, Scott's refined new and improved 'Danny'isms and Ritch just being Ritch. Solid). They are also evolving with the times again which is something I felt wasn't happening before, there was still a nostalgia feel about the shows for me despite TWHMBD... now - where we're at right NOW - this feels like PROGRESS.

The Wildhearts ROCK! PERIOD!

Roll on Gingers solo record (can't WAIT) and then the next album. Exciting times people, exciting times.

PS - to the dudes giving it aggro down the front - WANKERS - can't you just let some people DANCE and not force then to smash into each other. It's fair enough for heavier songs but when it's boogie time you don't want to be flung all over the place when you're feeling the vibe.

[fluffygrue]

Eee, was great.

Agree with a lot of that. Nice to hear EN stuff live again.. thought She's All That was a bit bland, Destroy All Monsters was fun. And was nice to hear The Hard Way. And yeah, there was a distinct lack of moshpit etiquette from some of the more drunk people, which was a shame. Still fun, though. *bounce*

[Ean]

Some bloke from Emmerdale was there last night apparently.

He was doing Celebrity Popmaster on Ken Bruce's Radio 2 show this morning and he mentioned that he'd been and that they'd played Geordie (ostensibly as a joke to his Geordie co-star who was doing it too).

The places they turn up...

Didn't take the hint and bung any on, mind..