English rock quartet The Wildhearts are back on tour ahead of the band’s next album that is due out later this year. Their latest line-up of frontman Ginger Wildheart, bassist “Random” Jon Poole, drummer Pontus Snibb and guitarist Ben Marsden are a band of seasoned pros, all with long track records.
The Wildhearts @ Shepherd's Bush Empire
After battling against train cancellations, I managed to get into West London’s hallowed Shepherds Bush Empire about halfway through opener Asomvel’s set. Form the moment I saw the wall of Marshall amps and the black leather clad four-piece, it was abundantly clear exactly what sort of heavy rock band they were. The heavy riffs of Stone Cold Stare making clear how this story was going to go, full on old-school hard rock played at huge volume with no let up. When The World Goes To Hell had full-throated growled Lemmy-style vocals as they upped the guitar antics on the solos.
Luck Is For Losers made it plain that this lot are all about hard work and moving past the tragic loss of the band’s founding lead singer Jay Jay Winter, who was killed in a car crash, his duties taken over by nephew Ralph, who keeps his uncle’s dream alive in fine style. World Shaker has such a solid floor shaking bass riff that the guitars fired off from as the quartet lit up the stage, working the crowd up before they had a false ending or two, going into set closer The Nightmare Ain’t Over that just confirmed that if you want to see a high quality, high intensity, old school rock band, Asomvel will deliver on all fronts.
The main support band Florence Black had me imagining in advance that they would be an all-female rock group, enamoured of the clothing designer of the same name, so I was a bit surprised to see that they are in fact a trio of Welsh Gents called Tristan, Jordan and Perry!
They came on to an ambient intro tape before the thrash metal meets melodic rock started to roll away any doubts that they were not brash enough. The thrashy guitar was often overshadowed by the super speedy bass floor that drives them on even more than the solid as hell drumming does. Don’t Hold Me Down upped the melodic rock a little more before Look Up really got the crowd bouncing. I think it was Warning Sign that got a big cheer as its opening notes hit us before its monster bass riff drove it on, while the guitar went a bit widdly. Rockin’ Ring brought more melody to the front, before they closed with a brash thrashing Sun & Moon that got them a large cheer from the by now packed Shepherds Bush Empire.
About ten minutes before The Wildhearts came on, the crowd started singing Don’t Worry About Me louder than the music was being played over the PA. Then the lights went down and, in a seeming nod to the 80th anniversary of D-Day, We’ll Meet Again came on with the audience joining in before The Wildhearts arrived on stage. Launching straight into Sleepaway, they sounded a bit heavier than the last time I saw them, but as ever Ginger had the audience from the get go.
Diagnosis from 2019’s Renaissance Men LP sounded good and punchy but 1994 single Suckerpunch was the moment the pit exploded, encouraging the first huge singalong of the night. The fireworks went off as they dove headfirst into massive 1995 single I Wanna Go Where The People Go sounding like the bonafide hit it is, with Pontus Snibb’s super heavy beat behind it, the rest of the band made good use of all the platforms and steps onstage.
Caffeine Bomb was the explosion of energy it always is as Ben Marsden really let loose on guitar. Before they played it, Ginger told us that he thought it was the first time they had ever played Slaughtered Authors live, and it was worth the wait. Tonight’s long version had some really cool instrumental interludes between the passionate lyrics. The Jackson Whites was a bit of a blur as Ginger fought against his loneliness, they stuck with the Chutzpah album for Mazel Tov Cocktail that had a deliciously stewed edge to it. Almost everyone in the 2,000-capacity Empire seemed to sing along to Vanilla Radio as Ben and Jon kept swapping sides of the stage.
Ginger then introduced a new song from the groups’ forthcoming album Eventually, that delivered a lovely crunchy riff but sounded looser than the rest of the set. Everlone saw the pit explode as everyone remembered a chemical romance or two. The second new song of the set was Hurt People Hurt People, a song whose lyrics I want to hear more closely. It was the slowest song of the set and almost felt like a ballad. They then closed with Chutzpah with a long instrumental outro during which they were showered with ticker tape, as the fireworks went off behind them.
Rather than cheering for an encore, the audience instead sang Don’t Worry About Me again and carried on delivering their strongest vocal performance after the band had come back on stage! Ginger thanked us all as he gave us his Greetings From Shitsville that had a huge and extremely loud sing along call and response chorus as always.
My Baby Is A Headfuck was riotously received and came complete with a monumental guitar break from Ben. That just left time for a cool, spiky version of Caprice from 1995 LP P.H.U.Q. that made sure we were in no doubt that The Wildhearts were in top form.
Live review of The Wildhearts at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London on 6th June 2024 by Simon Phillips, photography by Louise Phillips.
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