Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Action Replay, or Game, Set And Match? Readers of a sensitive disposition may wish to look away now....
Last time I was in this room, things were the other way around. The Wonder Stuff were supporting The Levellers to a
sold out, fit to bursting crowd. Now, The Wonder Stuff are headlining, and The Levellers playing second fiddle. (ba
boom, fangyewverrymush .... but there's plenty more space in the crowd.
The Levellers are on first ; Freed of the constraints of playing "Levelling The Land" in full, its more like their
now usual headline set, just truncated. Shorn of the visuals and build up, it feels very perfunctory. Spartan. Like a warm up for a bigger
gig - funnily enough, tomorrow night, they headline somewhere else - and doing a favour to help shift some tickets. In that sense, its
not entirely successful, judging by the tickets still on sale on the door.You can't fault the songs and thankfully, for a change, One
Way is at the beginning rather than its predictable as hell closing.It's like Metallica opening with Enter Sandman,
breaking the tediousness of playing the same song in the same place every bloody night. A spirited version of "The Game"
follows, and "Far From Home". And the magnificently underrated "The Road". So far, so Levelling The Land.
But there again, when 7 out of the opening 8 songs are from the same album thats 21 years old, that gets a bit stale, even if you do
rejig the order.
Fortunately, The Levellers mix it up with "Carry Me" (representing 'A Weapon Called The Word') and the end of
the set is an unpredictable as the beginning is. "Liberty" is fantastic, and "Dirty Davey" a welcome surprise.
"Riverflow" is the song that powered a thousand indie discos and is as infectious as it is energetic. All in All, The
Levellers play, and play well despite singer Mark doing the exact same schtick as he did 9 months ago, pork pie hat and all. The
only surprise is they don't end with "Beanfield" yet they still go down like a dance before the storm - but the main attraction here
is the return of local homeboys The Wonder Stuff.
Well, I say return. Its a little more complex than that. And that something I hate to say. Because The Wonder Stuff mean a
hell of a lot to me, and tonight is no way to say goodbye.
Tonights gig sees The Wonder Stuff present their biggest, No.1 album "Never Loved Elvis" in full ; you'd think it would
be a celebration but it's as a more muted affair. Tonight sees the second line up change in less than 10 months, with guitarist of 25
years standing Malc Treece stepping down and a last minute substitute in the form of Jerry DeBorg from
Jesus Jones ; at four days notice. The news only came out on Monday - and now it's Thursday.
Last time I saw The Wonder Stuff - six weeks prior, in Leeds supporting The Mission, (reviewed here) it was quite possibly the best
gig I've ever seen them do. And in my time, I've seen a fair few Wonder Stuff gigs. This? This was a very very different
occasion. After a period of rehearsal which bassist Mark McCarthy say can best be described as "intense" (as you'd expect
learning 25 songs in such a short period time), tonight is somewhere between under rehearsed, shambolic, and ramshackle. It's
certainly the most untogether gig I've ever seen The Wonder Stuff do, and a god near close runner for the worst I've ever
seen.
But it also asks the question, what or who are The Wonder Stuff ? Is a band a group of people or the songs played a band?
You see, that may seem abstract, but its sort of important. Out of the lineup that made the "Never Loved Elvis", only the singer
remains. I've seen solo gigs with more original members - and I must admit, thats damning when you think about it. Because The
Wonder Stuff, the band that made those records, no longer exists.
As I've seen this singer front his own band before, doesn't that sort of makes The Wonder Stuff now his solo project?
Especially that out of the line ups that played from 1986 to 2003, its now a completely different band. Different drummer. Different
bass player. Different Fiddle player. Different guitar. 20% original members.So yes, losing the original guitarist can make a hell of a
big difference - I mean, if its not The Wonder Stuff, it's certainly the best Wonder Stuff tribute band in existence.
Especially bearing in mind it contains less original members than "From The Jam", a tribute band where 66% of The
Jam played the songs of The Jam, eh?
Its also unsettling because vast quantities of the set see the arrangments of original album drastically changed to fit the current line
up. "Never Loved Elvis" is a lush album where keyboards abound - there's no keyboard player on stage. Most if not all of those
parts are transposed and covered exceptionally well by fiddle player Erica Nockalls, now the second longest serving member of the
band having joined 7 years ago like bass player Mark McCarthy. But the whole sound is different, like expecting a new car but getting
a cut and shut. But if there is a weak link on stage, it has to be shove-in replacement guitarist Jerry De Borg.
So Whilst "Mission Drive" starts ok, Jerry can be seen deep in concentration, like a teenager cramming for an exam - not in the
flow of the music, but as of trying to desperately remember what chords to play, what chord goes next, and is it time for the chorus
yet? At least one song ends in the wrong palce with Jerry trying to continue playing after everyone else has stopped. It sounds like a
last minute substitute bluffing his way through the game whilst everyone else plays on as best they can. I've seen a few Jesus
Jones gigs too, and he's never looked quite so lost - not so much lost in music, but lost by the music. I don't know what it plays,
but it’s a barrage of sound to cover what he doesn't know. I know he hasn't had long to pick up the baton, but to go ahead at such
short notice if you aren't ready is never a good idea.
To be honest, I'd far rather the band rescheduled and come back when they were ready. There's no shame in that. There's more
shame in pissing on your legacy half assed.
It's especially noticeable later on - come "Full Of Life", the difference is dramatic. A song Miles always used to shout out
halfway through "Malc, you are my guitar hero!" now not just misses that camaradie - but the whole guitar solo. It's not a hard
solo - I'm a bass player, and even I can work out that 8 note solo. It's still a solo. On the fiddle. If you've got a guitarist who can’t even
work that out, after playing 20 years, you might have the wrong guy. Yes, I'm being critical, and yes, I know it, but I hated hearing a
band I love, a band I know can be so utterly amazing turn out a crap gig.
This is a guitarist, incidentally, who didn't even learn the guitar solo to "Unbearable" - a solo that consists of bashing the guitar
once and letting the feedback ring out for 10 seconds. That just comes across as sloppy. And if there's one thing I thought I'd never
say about a band I've been following for 25 years and have played some stunning shows, it's that. Fair props to him for trying - for it
better to try and fail than not try at all - but that said, its better also to know when to leave things behind, rather than simply going
forward because you don’t know what else to do.
These things makes a difference to someone who loves a band, you know. They don’t feel the same, they don't sound the same.
Maybe they couldn't, but on stage right is a guy playing guitar and there's a keen sense of absence. Its like Hutter without Schneider,
Barney without Hooky, Jagger without Richards, McCartney without Harrison. It ain't gonna be the same again.
Its' a good value, 25 song set. Always is. The entire of "Never Loved Elvis" - including a never before played "False Start"
and "Play" which hasn't been seen live in twenty years, and none of the Bsides - well, "Room 512" which was on a
compilation album, and "Sing The Absurd" was on the setlist and dropped - and a bunch of the other songs in the style of an
extended encore. Its odd the hear the salute to the band as was, "38 Line Poem", now being played out of dedication and
fidelity, in tribute to a group of friends playiNg music now disbanded.
With a back catalogue so strong, there's a few obvious omissions, but isn't there always? But somehow, it’s the usual predictable set
list. Getting to hear the same songs over and over again makes me want to be given something new, for a change. Something I
haven't seen them play at every gig a dozen times already.
I came to praise The Wonder Stuff, not bury them. Tonight proved a damp squib - I'd gone with an open mind and come
back disappointed. After all When you change the ingredients, you don’t always get the same result. Tonight showed that to be true.
And this left a bitter taste. Is this The Wonder Stuff anymore? Or is it the singer of the band taking the name forward? And
that’s something I hate to be saying, because I love this band. Its just not that band anymore. These songs may mean the world to
me, same as The songs Of The Jam mean the world to Miles Hunt, but its funny you might have a different perspective when you are captain of the ship, rather than the paying punter.
But you know one thing - I got see friends, a family of friends with music in common, people which I don't see any other time of year.
People very dear to me from places as far away as New York and as close as New Cross - people I first met down the front twenty
years ago, and still meet down the front now. To old friends down the front, you are the reason I go. Not the music, not now. There's
little left for me in what is effectively a tribute to its own memory. To those on stage, I think it's time I tarnish the memory no more with
limp and insipid, yet an intensely panicked show that somehow seems on the verge of ragged collapse . Let me keep my memories.
There's a time for parting, and this I fear, is the end of the line. At least until the Idiot shows of 2013, at any rate. On the road, or on
the ropes, it doesn't have to be this way no more.
As Miles once sang on stage in 1994, "It was a good fucking band though…". And what band remains? On basis of tonights
limp, sloppy, shambolic set, I don't know what you'd call it. But i'd do one of two things - either call time on it now, whilst you still can
trade on some good will left, or come back and do the best shows they've ever done. On basis of Jerry's playing, he's the wrong man
at the right time for the job, and being handed the poisoned chalice is a thankless task ; and I, for one, feel the life has been sucked
out of this.
I love this band, but it's not the band I grew to love. It's a band playing Wonder Stuff songs, but not The Wonder
Stuff. The revolving door of ever changing line ups has spit out another victim. And I know I'm not going to make any friends
saying this, but ...running into the future with the history on your back isn't going to win you any friends, not like this. When things have
changed so much, its not the same anymore. And that time has come.I had hoped to god, that this would never come.
And six weeks ago, I could never, ever have imagined saying that. Goodbye. So long.Please don't play those Wonder Stuff songs.....
Setlist:
The Levellers:-
One Way / The Game / Far From Home / the Road / Sell Out / ? / Fifteen years / The Boatman / The Devil When Down To Georgia /
Carry Me / Liberty / Dirty Davey / Riverflow / Chlorea Well / Beautiful Day
The Wonder Stuff :-
Mission Drive / Play / False Start / Welcome To The Cheap Seats / Size Of A Cow / Donation (without Brutal Equation) / Inertia /
Maybe / Grotesque / Here Comes Everyone / Caught in My Shadow / 38 Line Poem / Room 512 / Red Berry Joytown / On The
Ropes / Mother And Me / Golden Green / Full Of Life / Don't Let Me Down, gently / It's Yer Money I'm After Baby / Radio Ass Kiss /
Poison
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