Hotter Than Ever! The Wildhearts Deliver a Killer Set at Nottingham Rock City!

The Wildhearts deliver a killer set at Nottingham Rock City as they blow the stage to pieces at the ‘Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts’ Tour!

The atmosphere within the iconic Nottingham Rock City was already at fever pitch before the Wildhearts even took to the stage as the audience waited with bated breath to see the latest reincarnation of The Wildhearts! And as Ginger and his gang of rebel musical misfits exploded onto the stage to ‘Suckerpunch’ and sparks burst into the air!! It was clear to see that the latest reincarnation could only be described as shit hot!! They were from the get go, an explosive mix of blinding musicians who just bounced off each other and left their fans captivated.

Joining Ginger onstage tonight were Jon Poole on bass, Ben Marsden on guitar and Charles Evans on drums. No doubt Ginger could have had his pick of musicians, but these three brilliant musicians seemed an obvious choice!

Ginger is a true revolutionary, a man who walks to his own tune and doesn’t give a fuck what others think, a non-conformist, the true essence of punk rock and freedom and if one word sums up the feeling within the packed audience tonight then it has to be free! The audience were jumping around, living and breathing every guitar drenched adrenaline laden note alongside their anti-conformist hero.

Next up was ‘I Wanna Go Where the People Go’, which created a mass of dancing bodies among the already ecstatic audience! Whilst the older material went down an absolute storm, the tracks which really stood out were the incredible tunes from the new album ‘Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts’, after which the tour is named! ‘Eventually’ with its pounding drums, ferocious guitars and Gingers wailing vocals was a guitar driven break up song of sorts.  The massive, ‘I’ll Be Your Monster’ is a balls to the wall work of art, heavier than some of their earlier material, raw and unfiltered with driving heavy riffs and the high-octane feel-good punk rock just kept coming thick and fast!

The best track of the night has to be the killer ‘Failure Is The Mother of Success’ which is pure unadulterated rebellion in every primal riff drenched note, anarchic perfection that could summon the devil himself! Troubadour Moon another track from the new album is an emotionally charged and catchy as hell anthem that you can’t help but sing along to.

The incendiary ‘Chutzpah’ was a fiery anthem truth bomb of a track and another massive hit with the crowd and ‘Inglorious’ was an unapologetic manifesto, with its incendiary hard hitting lyrics and razor sharp driving guitars! Magnificent and hooky as hell!

If the essence of a great punk rock song is that it is fast and furious with controversial lyrics that fight against the establishment and an underlying current of anger and revolt then tonight’s set nails it on every level! And the new material is more punk than ever!!

Always one to go out with a bang! On the final track of the night, the high-octaine ‘My Baby Is a Headfuck’, during Gingers blistering guitar solo, he held his guitar over a jet of sparks and the audience went absolutely insane! It was a fitting end to a mind-blowing night of chaotic anarchic rock’n’roll perfection!

The Wildhearts are a band that won’t be tamed, their unique form of punk rock is a catharsis, a release that has never been more relevant or needed!

It’s impossible to finish this review without talking about tonights incredible support band, ‘The Jim Jones All Stars’! Jim and his band of stellar musicians have gained much well-deserved attention since they supported The Black Crowes last year on their Happiness Bastards tour! A favourite of Crowes frontman Chris Robinson and clearly a band on the way to meteoric success, The All Stars have the incredible ability to create a sound so big, that it had to be seen to be believed! This eight-piece band delivered an electrifying set of a high-octane blend of blues, soul and garage rock, a high-bred fusion of genres that left the crowd shouting for more!

 

One of the best tracks of their brilliant set was undoubtedly their new single due for release on the 4th April, the rabble-rousing ‘Goin Higher’! A flawless work of sheer genius with filthy riffs and a big Mississippi Deep South sound, down and dirty rock’n’roll at its very best! Their set was a beautifully crafted mix of tracks from Jones’s various projects, including The Hypnotics and The Jim Jones Revue. After their scorching intro, the bands first track of the night, the explosive ‘Cement Mixer’ which was reminiscent of The Stooges and The Cramps, could only be described a hell-raising explosion of musical madness. Visually stunning with duelling saxophones, and Jim’s explosive energy, this band are all first-class musicians, every song edgy as hell and their performance is visually stunning, gloriously intense and invigorating! ‘Burning Your House Down’ with Jones’s raw and dangerous vocals lifted this track to another level! Bleeding emotion, it was reminiscent of James Brown in his heyday! Their closing track, the mind-blowing ‘512’ showcased the kind of keys that would have made Jerry Lee Lewis proud, it was another blinding track that created a mass of dancing bodies in the packed audience!! It was clear to see that the All Stars have gained a few more fans tonight thanks to their decadent sweat-drenched set of musical mastery!!

www.thewildhearts.com

Photos of The Wildhearts

 

Photos of the Jim Jones All Stars

www.jimjonesallstars.com

 

Setlist – The Wildhearts

Suckerpunch
I Wanna Go Where the People Go
Eventually
The Jackson Whites
Diagnosis
Vanilla Radio
Troubadour Moon
Sleepaway
Failure Is The Mother of Success
Mazel Tov Cocktail
I’ll Be Your Monster
Everlone
Chutzpah

Encore:

Inglorious
My Baby Is a Headfuck

Setlist – Jim Jones All Stars

Intro
Cement Mixer – Jim Jones Revue
Goin Higher – All Stars new single (out on 4th April) would be great to mention this ?
Burning Your House Down – Jim Jones Revue
Anyway I Can – All Stars las LP – Ain’t no Peril
Soul Trader – Thee Hypnotics
Troglodyte – All Stars LP – Ain’t no Peril
R&R Psychosis – Jim Jones Revue
Shakedown – Thee Hypnotics
512 – Jim Jones Revue