Gig review - The Wildhearts, Newcastle Academy, 19/09/15

The Wildhearts – 20 PHUQ-ing years

Newcastle Academy, 19/09/15

Warning! This review contains hyperbole, exaggeration and bias!

“The whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.” This line from David Lynch's Wild At Heart (one of his more conventional films, as it happens) inspired the name of England's most talented and unfortunately self destructive band. This will be the third review of one of their shows that I've done in as many years, but they keep coming back and I keep going to see them. So you can probably expect more of these, because The Wildhearts are as good as they ever were. Perhaps better, even because there's not so much intra-band tension and messing about with drugs.

Tonight they are celebrating the 20-year anniversary of their brilliant 2^nd album PHUQ (pronounced 'fuck' and not 'fuck you') by playing the whole thing from start to finish. Having bought the album on the day it came out, this makes me feel old but filled with a nice nostalgia at the same time. Many a formative year was spent in the company of these songs and hearing them belted out tonight is something of a trip.

The album is probably the apex of the fun-while-it-lasted 'Britrock' scene, which was a more entertaining antidote to dullards like Blur, Pulp and Oasis; dubbed Britpop by the same lazy journalists who had lumped The Wildhearts in with Terrorvision, Therapy?, The Almighty et al. Ginger Wildheart was, and remains to this day the best songwriter in the country, as proved by recent crowdfunded albums Albion and 100%. That he isn't regularly playing Wembley stadium is a bigger national disgrace than the ongoing privatization of the NHS. Probably.

There's an early curfew because kids want to come to the Academy's club night and dance to You Me At Six and Pvris, so things kick off horribly early. There's probably a bit of hubris at work with the choice of support but given the quality of the band it's forgiveable. Ginger's own Hey!Hello! open the show, as they did last time, and their brand of cheeky Cheap Trick-like pop rock goes down well. Hampered by a muddy sound that drowns out one of the guitars, it's still possible to make out that the impressive voice of new singer Hollis Mahady is much better than that of the ousted Victoria Liedtke. She's quite a performer too, energetic and earnest throughout as they mix a couple of new tracks in with 'Lock For Rock', 'The Thrill Of It All' and the infectious 'Swimwear'.

Next up is Baby Chaos, who I vaguely remember seeing open for...someone in the late 1990s. A brief discussion with friends yields no further answers as they came out with exactly the same thing. What I vaguely remember of them was completely wrong; I expected a fairly identikit pop-punk band with multi-part harmonies and yawn... What they actually do is aggressive, grungy dark rock, all angular riffs and abrasive guitars. Heavy but melodic and a good chorus or two to boot. Singer Chris Gordon has a fine voice for this type of thing and gives a heartfelt and passionate performance. I really hope I'm not the only new fan they've made tonight.

Ginger walks onstage looking every bit the rock star but a bigger cheer goes up for lead guitarist CJ, looking exactly as he did back in 1995 (paying the same Jackson Pollock-styled graffiti guitar, too). Opening as they do with what most bands could only dream of being their best song, 'I Wanna Go Where The People Go', any sound gremlins are immediately banished and it's game on. Playing an album in sequence naturally makes the set predictable in a way, but with tonight there's something comforting in knowing that a song as good as 'Just In Lust' or 'Caprice' is coming next.

Ginger is in good form tonight, reminiscing that a record company prevented PHUQ from being a double album before triumphantly stating “here we are 20 years later...”. We get a simple “Try this one on for size” before they kick into the monstrous riff that drives 'Naivety Play'. A glorious 'In Lily's Garden' and a thumping 'Getting It' ends the main set before the whole crowd cajole them back on by singing a horrifically off-key 'Don't Worry 'Bout Me'.

Now famous for their extensive encores, they are generous tonight, giving us: 'TV Tan', 'The Jackson Whites', 'Someone That Won't Let Me Go', 'Geordie In Wonderland' (my vote for the new National Anthem once Corbyn gets in and bans the queen), 'Weekend (5 Long Days)', 'Stormy In The North, Karma In The South', 'Turning American' and finally the perfect meld of riffs and melody that is 'Love U Til I Don't'. Showing my age and increasingly diminished tolerance for alcohol, I'm absolutely drained but elated. I kind of hope they don't do an Endless Nameless tour as that album is a bloody mess whichever way you cut it, but if they do, I'll be there and I'll still have a great time.

It's a night full of nostalgia for me and the sad thing is that it really shouldn't be. Despite the fact that the most recent song they played was over 6 years old, they're still the most exciting band in the country; more people should know this. So with that in mind, Biffy Clyro, Muse, Royal Blood, Marmozets, Lower Than Atlantis, Mallory Knox and You Me At bloody Six: the gauntlet is thrown; to be the best you've got to beat the best and you guys aren't even playing the same sport, never mind coming close to winning.

You know, come to think of it, my opening statement was an outright lie.