Wheatus: The Soundhouse Leicester – Reviewed!

Scuttling down the dark back streets of Leicester city on a Sunday night would normally mean you’re up to something dodgy, and as we sidle up to the queue of distinctly eclectic looking folk bathed under the faint green glow of a neon sign, it occurs to me that this is exactly the sort of reputation the ‘alternatives’ always had – dodgy. Luckily our band of choice tonight, made their mark singing about precisely this sort of thing, so we’re in good hands.

As we slip past the giant sage green tour bus, jammed like a conga eel down a tiny alleyway, and head into The Soundhouse venue, we are greeted by friendly faces and an absolutely tiny room. Now, I must note two things here. Firstly that I adore gigs in small venues. There is an intimate and special quality that definitely dies in larger places. Secondly, I have no idea how we’re all going to fit in here, nor the band on the miniscule stage.

As it turns out, I need not have worried – the tattooed skinheads, stoners and hipsters have all filed in just fine and there’s a decent amount of dancing room. I do slightly fear for the health of the two very on brand dirtbags at the front, who have come in full ‘Loser’ movie regalia of parkas and furry trapper hats. Exemplary dedication to the cause.

A small merch stand is selling the very last of their tour tshirts, signed posters and such. There are quite a few items that have sold out, presumably due to the fact that we have ended up being the very last date on this tour due to Brendan B Brown’s illness causing the cancellation of the previous show. I’d also like to highlight how brilliant it is that they and The Soundhouse worked together to get this night stuck on the end instead of just faintly promising “they’d be back at some point” – we are truly grateful, and it’s a sellout show for a second time.

Up first is the perfectly awkward purveyor of (as he puts it) Nerdcore Rap, MC Frontalot. Ascending (and by ascending I mean taking one slightly elevated step) the stage wearing a very convincing Dwight Schrute outfit, and a head-torch he yells “I’m a nerdcore rapper, from San Fransisco to Knife Crime Island” and laments that this is the 47th and final time he’ll have done this show on this tour.

Instantly taken with his self-deprecating rhymes, we giggle our way through the likes of ‘First World Problem’ and ‘Power User’“I’m in a sadomasochistic relationship with my desktop computer” he says, deadpan. The beats are distinctly 90’s in feel, and I guess the intersection of rap and rock was a lot lower in the UK than it was in the US, so the crowd is unfortunately kind of flat, which is a shame as Frontalot is actually really fun.

There’s a definite Flight of The Conchords style familiarity about him, which I obviously enjoy, and joking about being dressed like a sixth grade English teacher has us in stitches, mainly because my plus one for this gig tonight actually *is* a high school English teacher. Finally the ‘Tut Tut’ song requires a bit of crowd participation and at this point everyone seems to decide it’s ok to join in and have a bit of a boogie, which obviously serves to rocket the temperature of the room. Anyway, MC Frontalot – I salute you, that was a kickass set, and I shall join your Nerdcore rap movement by subscribing to you on Spotify later.

As Wheatus sneak onto the stage to start setting up, a commotion in the middle of the room is brewing. It seems that a lady has passed out and they’re trying to get her to the fire doors for some air. As Brendan B. Brown calls for security to come over and help before they start, I joke “Well, you’ve got them passing out before you’ve even played a note” and he replies “Ha, well… it’s not my first choice”.

© Anna Hyams for SFG. Do not use without permission.

Once the situation has been appropriately handled, the gap in the crowd closes and all eyes turn to the now very cramped stage. Brendan is sporting a rather excellent semi-acoustic guitar whose sound holes are shaped like the Wheatus stylized ‘W’, and yells out a quick hi to the crowd before asking what we want to hear. Now, I knew that for the rest of the tour they’d been taking requests, but I simply wasn’t ready for how far they would go – this night, we had an entirely crowd-curated set list. Mixing hits with B-sides, never before heard-live tracks and the band working their asses off to keep a 63 song repertoire live in their heads, is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at a gig.

Starting out strong with ‘Pretty Girl’ and then my yelled suggestion ‘Leroy’, I am already absolutely delighted to be here tonight, Brendan’s voice sounds fantastic despite the recent illness, until he has to stop for a short cough-break after ‘Semolina’. “That’s the sound of pneumonia… it’s not Covid, I tested negative five times! This is just regular sick. See they love that!” he laughs as the crowd cheers.

Swigging from a paper coffee cup he quips “I’m actually completely drink and drug free, so when I get the chance to have medicine and 4 shots of espresso, I take it, woo! But yeah don’t do drugs, especially don’t do cocaine it fucks up your nose then you can’t sing the girl part to teenage dirtbag.”

Flowing into ‘Truffles’ with an extensive solo on the end, it’s more like we’re earwigging on a jam session than at a gig, I can’t rave enough about how collaborative and interesting it feels to not just be played *at*. “That was some lead singer gratuitous bullshit there… I decided I’m not a good guitarist halfway through.. was it OK? You don’t have to cheer you know” Brendan says, underestimating a UK crowd who immediately 180 to giggled booing instead. “Oh bollocks” he replies in a British accent.

‘F.B.S.M’ comes with a side story about how this forgotten song was rebuilt due to Neil (in the crowd)’s shitty flip phone recording at a previous gig, which of course galvanizes the record-everything crowd to hold their phones aloft for ‘Temporary Song’. It’s irritating in a small room, and they’ve memorised all 63 of these songs already my guy, put your phone down and enjoy the music.

Perhaps in karmic response, suddenly the stage goes dark as the lighting desk goes kaput and a very frantic fiddling begins to try and fix it. ‘Tipsy’ is played in a blueish twilight (totally useless for the iphone videographer crew, ha), but apparently Saviour tech ‘Archie’ manages to harrass a new board in place before ‘Hump’em n’Dump’Em’ which then morphs into some sort of disco rave situation. Following this, a full crowd karaoke ensues for their hit cover of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’, which is weirdly poignant on this Remembrance Sunday, amid the news of Gaza – “We can make love not war”.

When someone yells out ‘Punk Ass Bitch’ I expect to be singing my head off, but they instead play their alternate lyrics version written for Jackie Chan’s Adventures, called ‘Chan’s The Man’. It’s cute, and again something unique… but I am damn well singing the OG lyrics over the top.

‘Marigold Girl’ is a bit of an emo dirge, but you know – so am I, so I liked it. “This song is about a Zombie apocalypse. This is my dead people song. This is a tour first, we haven’t done this yet in the 46 other shows we’ve played, it’s the only one we haven’t played so we’re gonna complete it”. Up next, ‘Sunshine’ is the absolute antithesis of the previous song and it sounds every bit as excellent as teenage me thought it might, back in 2000, listening on a silver CD walkman.

‘Wannabe Gangstar’ has everyone singing along again, into ‘Whole Amoeba’ and when someone yells out “PLAY THE LEICESTER SONG” the band quickly whip up a few bars of funk and call it ours. ‘London Sun’ and ‘Lemonade’, are two of my favourites that aren’t from their debut album and for a final show set of a long tour, plagued by illness and extensions – I am surprised and awed that the band continue to sound this good.

Someone calls out ‘Mr. Brown’ – another great debut album track, and then it’s time for *the song*, ‘Teenage Dirtbag’. Rocking a safari style bucket hat, Bendan says “So, Dirtbag… back in the charts… I don’t know how you did that but it’s down to you, thank you so much. Anyway, we know it’s your song now, not ours. Here we go”, and then it is a deafening crescendo of crowd singing through to the ‘girl part’ which hits the kind of sound barrier that makes neighborhood cats scarper and brain fluid fizz. “You wanna hear me do it?” BBB asks to a chorus of agreement, and thankfully most people understand the brief and let him actually sing the section before ending on a full house high. Oh, but not before we get some inserted bars from the returning MC Frontalot. I love it.

At almost 11pm a few people prematurely head for the doors, but the chants of “one more song” ring out and we get to hear ‘People’. “Thanks for supporting my illness these last few shows, your love is felt. Oh, yes we’ll definitely be back don’t worry” Brendan enthuses. “This song is about how it’s better to have more diverse people, and less of the same people” brings about cheers and clapping, and sadly, the end of an epic set.

This version of the band, although almost entirely changed from the original line-up, have an energy and connectivity that flows so organically that it truly feels as if you’re being swept by the tide of them. I can’t rave enough about how special and interesting this one-of-a-kind show was. Yeah, I know we were number 47 on the roster but, if you weren’t at this one, you’ll never see it again – and that, is the power of live music and a band who are brave enough to let their fans run the show.

© Anna Hyams for SFG. Do not use without permission.

NIN – The Eden Sessions 2022, REVIEWED!

© Anna Hyams for Summer Festival Guide

It’s one of the hottest days of the year, we’re edging up against the solstice, and we’ve decided to spend the day in a giant greenhouse. Yes, we’ve finally made it back to Eden Project Cornwall, for The Eden Sessions – a series of gigs held in arguably the world’s most beautiful venue. This year so far, Eden has hosted the likes of My Chemical Romance and Noel Gallagher but tonight we’re down for day one of the iconic Nine Inch Nails double-header.

Along with your ticket for one of the Sessions, you are able to visit The Eden Project itself on the day of or the day after your event. Given that standard tickets are around the £30 mark, this is a great way to experience the biomes as an added bonus. We take a tour of the Mediterranean biome first, which is full of citrus, herbs and grapevines – it smells absolutely incredible, but good grief is it hotter than the seventh circle of hell today. There’s so much to see and learn about, but our favourite occupation is lizard spotting.


The bigger Rainforest biome is actually slightly cooler (owing to the canopy and the humidity, we did learn something) and there are water stops all the way around. We took the treetop walk, found some cooling mists and marveled at giant bamboo. Actually, the best bit was all the black-clad gothic types sweating it out, and having a lovely time taking selfies in the daylight for a change. Dipping out of the biomes into the central café, we recharge with burrito wraps and Cornish Cola (yes, it’s a thing) – followed up with ice-cream in the sunshine and a look around the outside garden area. There’s a tipi bar (with special commemorative Sessions cups on offer) and a regular bar, either side of the arena.

Heading into the arena area, a banked-sided perfect bowl amphitheatre, it’s obvious that everyone is going to get a great view from wherever they stand tonight. With around a 6,500 capacity, it’s a smallish venue which definitely makes for an intimate show. Despite the still sizzling heat of the day, the crowd of black tshirts is amassing ready for support act Nitzer Ebb.

 © Anna Hyams for Summer Festival Guide

Nitzer Ebb (sans Doug McCarthy), 80’s Brit-EDM with a very industrial sound, are raucously good fun – and vocalist Bon Harris’ gives a convincing portrayal of dingy-club-basement-rave, in the Cornish sunshine. I think they’ve managed to secure more than a few new fans tonight.

Nine Inch Nails are hailed in with a wall of smoke so dense that it takes half of intro track ‘Somewhat Damaged’ to even see the outline of Trent Reznor, but when we do – an almighty roar goes up from the arena. It is wild that a band who sell out huge stadiums all over the world, are here tonight in the sleepy leg of England, but there are some die-hard fans here who have travelled great distances for it.

Reznor and bandmate Atticus Ross take no time at all to bring the fury, the full force of Reznor as a performer – backed by an incredible line up of talent (Finck, Cortini, Rubin), it’s already everything we were waiting for. Dressed in a beaten leather jacket and a muscle-hugging black tshirt – it’s clear Reznor has left behind the angsty teen pvc-gloves and visible ennui behind, and is giving off big John Wick vibes. The huge lighting rigs behind beat to the heart-stopping wave of sound for ‘The Day The World Went Away’, and the crowd goes absolutely beserk.

© Anna Hyams for Summer Festival Guide

‘Mr. Self Destruct’ and ‘The Frail’ are stunningly epic, and we are treated to a rare outing of ‘Love Is Not Enough’. ‘Wish’ buries itself deep into your soul, but it’s ‘The Perfect Drug’ that just has the entire arena bouncing with wild abandon. There’s a visceral freedom in NIN’s music that allows for chaotic expression, and it’s clear this crowd has come to let it out – the nihilistic need for post-pandemic self-destruction.

Grabbing up a guitar, followed by a saxophone, followed by a tambourine, you get a glimpse of the passion Reznor has for music in all forms – and I can’t help but giggle that he’s basically screaming the iconic lines (you know the ones…) from ‘Closer’ across the sleepy Cornish countryside. I wonder if he finds the juxtaposition as amusing as I do, this certainly isn’t your standard insulated concert venue.

‘Copy of A’ has the whole arena singing/shouting along, and the show is absolutely relentless, with the band taking hardly any breaks between song after heavy song, Reznor is a machine. However he does have time to quip “We love this place, but does the sun ever goddamn go down?! Feeling exposed up here, there’s too much light” – which in retrospect of the following night’s weather, might have been a touch too close to tempting fate.

© Anna Hyams for Summer Festival Guide

Referencing our dear friend the global pandemonium, Reznor confides “It’s been disorienting to come out and play shows, but it’s also been fucking great” hitting on the nerve I think many are feeling tonight, before going full grunge cover in homage to late friend and mentor David Bowie, with ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’ and ‘Fashion’.

The night finally descends over Eden, in time for ‘Head Like A Hole’ to absolute bury us in the ecstasy of pure live music joy. The biomes are lit in time with the music, rippling through blues and purples to pure white matching the stage lights. The encore, ‘Everything’ and ‘March of the Pigs’ are amazing, but there may be nothing that comes as close to a perfect concert moment as closer ‘Hurt’ does tonight. The air is vibrating with anticipation as Reznor lines up those opening lyrics, and then it becomes the most gut punching dirge outro you can imagine. We wish there was more, we will there to be more, but it’s over. This one goes down in my personal history of one of the most iconic shows I’ve ever seen. Both the venue and the music, will be hard to live up to.

© Anna Hyams for Summer Festival Guide

Bears Den @ Shepherds Bush Empire 24/04/2019 Review

London based band Bears Den stopped off on their ‘So That You Might Hear Me’ tour at the legendary venue Sheperd’s Bush Empire, in which is a very important place for them as noted during the show as one member was formerly an employee at a local pub just along the same road as the venue. Both London shows were sold out and it was their last UK show before jetting off to play all over Europe.

Arriving at the venue with a capacity of 2000, the room is filled with excitement from the crowd. Whilst patiently waiting for the first act Tusks to arrive on stage, people were sipping at their beverages , chatting amongst themselves with many also observing the merch stall.

The stage was lit with blue lighting with a gentle haze of smoke while two vintage styled rugs were seen covering the floor. Around 8:00pm, the lights began to dim and support act Tusks took to the stage. Tusks is actually the stage name for performer Emily Underhill. Her style of music is most suited to an electronic indie pop genre. Her sound can be likened to that of London Grammar. The artist expressed that she was very grateful to be supporting Bears Den and especially for two consecutive nights as it is a venue she has always dreamed of performing in. Her set showcased a total of six songs including the single ‘Be Mine’, which is featured on her new album that is due for release in June. She was well received with the crowd who were now really looking forward to the headliners.

The stage was cleared quite quickly and was all set up for Bears Den. With guitars all ready and also a little wooden piano. As the lights dimmed they had the most nostalgic sci-fi style intro as the Terminator theme tune played them in. The duo walked on with four supporting musicians. It was still pretty dark with just a few white lights that focused on the band from below as they played their first song ‘Fuel On The Fire’. Shortly after, their second song of the evening saw singer Andrew Davie said how great it was to play the venue again and that we do have more songs to play.
The crowd swayed and danced during the performance. When playing ‘Sophie’ the band turned off all equipment and came to the front of the stage and asked for complete silence and kept it simple with an acoustic rendition of the song. They also performed an unplugged song in the crowd later on in the show which was ‘Blankets Of Sorrow’.

When performing, ticket holders enjoyed singing the lyrics along with the band. Bears Den played a wide range of new and classic songs which included music from their latest album which was only released this month (April 2019). The album is due for release just a few short days after this gig at Sheperd’s Bush. Band member Andrew toasted the show with a shot and expressed a huge thank you to everyone who has supported them over the years.

At the end of the evening the band brought their show to a close with probably one of their biggest hits to date. ‘Agape’. It was the perfect way to end the evening.
You can catch the band on their European tour and also at Citadel Festival in London on 14th July 2019.

Review and Photos by Kane Howie

  • BearsDen0_KaneHowie
  • BearsDen1_KaneHowie
  • BearsDen2_KaneHowie
  • BearsDen3_KaneHowie
  • BearsDen4_KaneHowie
  • BearsDen5_KaneHowie
  • BearsDen6_KaneHowie
  • BearsDen7_KaneHowie
  • BearsDen8_KaneHowie
  • BearsDen9_KaneHowie
  • Tusks1_KaneHowie
  • Tusks2_KaneHowie
  • Tusks3_KaneHowie
  • Tusks4_KaneHowie
  • Tusks5_KaneHowie

 

Slam Dunk Festival Midlands 2017 – Review

SlamDunk Festival 2017’s lineup promised to pack a punch and after spending the day at the NEC Arena watching one great band after another, the festival proved itself successful in delivery. 

Attending both as photographers and a music fan's, we shot and watched the likes of Blackpool derived ‘Boston Manor’, to Texas natives, ‘Waterparks’ and we was not disappointed.

I began my day with ‘Crossfaith’ who unleashed their energy across the Jagermeister stage; with great anticipation from the crowd and an epic countdown intro it only added to the hype. Kenta Kole (Lead singer) came onto stage waving a large flag and beckoned everyone to jump up and down before going into XENO.

Jagerbomb was the third song from their set and the crowd opened up and bodies flew forward keeping the security on their toes.

Crossfaith

Photo: Sophie Jones | Love And Light Images

They also encourage participants of their show to ‘put their middle fingers up’ in salute during the ending of their set. Overall from the start their set packed a punch and was full of engery and if you didn’t get to see these guys you really did miss out.

Setlist:

XENO

MONOLITH

JÄGERBOMB

KILL

OMEN

HELL

LEVIATHAN

 

VUKOVI

Photo: Sophie Jones | Love And Light Images

Vukovi were one of the new exciting acts gracing the smaller stages around the venue and what a treat it was for those that caught their set. The band have made themselves unavoidable after dropping their riotous debut album earlier this year; making quite a racket on the music scene. Armed with their heavy riffs, super-charged tempo they had the crowd singing and dancing along to each track they played. Front woman Janine Shilstone’s came out singing “La Di Da” and played well into the camera’s creating some great shots for the photographers who were down there.

 

Boston Manor

Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm

As previously mentioned Blackpool lads, ‘Boston Manor’ made full use of their slot during the festival over on The Key Club stage. They proved themselves to be tough contenders for the main stages sometime soon, after they pummelled themselves through their set, much to the crowd surfers delight.

Bury Tomorrow

Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm

‘Bury Tomorrow’ played the Jagermeister stage in their usual style. Screaming and growling for photographers, and telling the audience to crowd surf as much as possible during their set. 

 

Don Broco

Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm

‘Don Broco’ also playing the Jagermeister stage encouraged their fans to ‘get the fuck down’ before then telling them to jump back up from the arena floor as the music kicked in. 

Cute Is What We Aim For

Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm

‘Cute Is What We Aimed For’ provided fans with a much needed throwback, to their old teen favourites including ‘The Curse of Curves’. Happy fans even got to meet lead singer Shaant Hacikyan who was very grateful and humble to his long time loyal fans.

Deaf Havana

Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm

Deaf Havana were also lucky enough to score a slot on one of this years main stages, playing their set as the night began in a run up to the headline acts. 

 

Madina Lake

Photo: Sophie Jones | Love And Light Images

After a four-year hiatus Madina Lake return to play the Impericon stage at SDF17.The crowd waited with anticipation and one by one each member came out before quickly dropping into their first track but it wasn’t long before Nathan Leone flew over the top of the photographers heads landing in the crowd and he did this more than once. It was a comeback performance that everyone should of seen and Nathan made it a very up close and personal experience for those who attended their set.

Enter Shikari

Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm

Enter Shikari finished up the festival on the Jagermeister stage with a bang. Lead singer Rou Reynolds, flailed his arms about in an 80’s style conservative outfit. This band were definitely the band of the festival for me. They exploded with instruments, energy, and a colourful, laser themed set that was like electricity to be a part of. 

Shikari’s summed up how I and thousands of other gig goers felt about this years Slam Dunk in one lyric ‘this is all I need to feel alive…’ 

I thought the queuing system was better this year; faster and the bags check were more thorough so I felt a lot safer considering recent events in Manchester. The performances were good and the sound, lighting etc were good; although on a couple of stages due to technical issues it resulted in sets being shorter. Also the atmosphere was great and I felt safe the whole time, which is important in my opinion, the staff working at the venue were friendly and helpful! Only thing id complain about is I’d like to have had a map like previous years with the stage times on the back which weren’t given out like before” – Freya

Once again Slam Dunk didn’t disappoint this year; It’s the only place where you can bump into people you’ve just seen or will be seeing on the stages, its so laid back and causal. The loyalty and passion of the crowds is always a warm sight from hardcore fans in the pits to newcomers searching for a new sound or act to listen too. Acts like Crossfaith that are building a huge fan base due to their wild style and high energy its easy to see why people turn up every year. Acts like I Prevail, Madina Lake and Enter Shikari who are legends in the industry are the types of diversity a festival needs and Slam Dunk give you that and is a perfect introduction to a festival if your just starting out” – Sam

“ Getting into the festival and security was so much faster and efficient this year and the lay out the venue was good and easier to get around given last year stages were far apart; Only part of the layout I didn’t like was at the main stage it was only accessible from the one side. Some acts were late on stage and I think their needs to be more people helping between sets to strip and set up the gear. I think some acts needed bigger stages like I Prevail as it was there first time in the UK. Also I wish there was more food options next year as there wasn’t much choice.

The staff were very friendly and helpful given what has happened recently; I felt very safe and I even twisted my foot at the show and the second I fell down everybody helped me back up and made sure I got out safely; when I got checked out they were kind and helpful so big up to the staff. Overall id give a 9/10" – Jak

 

Review: Sophie Jones And Hollie Turner
Photographers: Sophie Jones And Hollie Turner