THE WILDHEARTS - WOLVERHAMPTON KK'S STEEL MILL, 15.09.21

BY SHARI BLACK VELVET

After a year and a half of hermitting at home, with only the occasional afternoon walk around the local vicinity for exercise and a spot of nature photography, the time has finally come to venture out for a gig. With well over a hundred daily coronavirus-related deaths and over 30,000 new cases still being reported every 24 hours, we were a little apprehensive about going to a packed, indoor concert again – and, in particular, KK’s Steel Mill for their opening show featuring headliners The Wildhearts, especially as the venue had released no guidelines in relation to showing covid vaccine passes or negative test results, but still, that didn’t deter us, as the prospect of seeing The Wildhearts again was too strong to pass by.

Two Welsh bands, James And The Cold Gun and Those Damn Crows, helped warm the crowd up – the latter who we’ve featured in Black Velvet. Those Damn Crows really are an impressive outfit, and sure to become superstars if there’s any justice in the world. They have a sound and stage presence worthy of selling out large venues in their own right. Their songs are packed with impassioned feeling, monumental melodies and a sound so wholesomely fulfilling that when their set has ended you feel like you’ve been fed a 12-course meal.

The large warehouse-style venue of KK’s Steel Mill is suitably packed by 9.15pm when Ginger, CJ, Danny and Ritch, collectively known as The WIldhearts, take to the stage. Not quite sardine-tin packed, but a-decent-distance-away-to-not-catch-germs-but-not-too-far type packed. Choosing to open with ‘Diagnosis’ from their ‘Renaissance Men’ album is spot on – the opening riffs of the song gives us chills as the first Wildhearts tune we get to hear live after a year and a half. It’s such an honest and important song and the crowd are immediately singing along in unison as if their lives depend on it. Well-known hit ‘Vanilla Radio’ follows and cues a few high jumps from CJ and Ginger, much to the delight of photographers. The familiar ‘Sick Of Drugs’ further enhances the set before the band showcase one of the new ‘21st Century Love Songs’ album tracks – ‘Remember These Days’, which then morphs into a mash of older Wildhearts tunes such as ‘If Life Is Like A Lovebank I Want An Overdraft’ and ‘Splattermania’, which is a great way to include a number of songs and keep fans happy with little snippets, since the band have so many fantastic songs that it’s hard to fit them all into a set. 

The set includes a variety of the band’s songs, such as the animated favourite ‘Caffeine Bomb’ and the sing-along anthem ‘Let ‘Em Go’. Ginger asks if the new album is better than ‘Renaissance Men’ before playing a track from each to compare. ‘Splitter’ (about losing friends) appears to initially have a harsher tone to it when compared to ‘Dislocated’, but includes some exceptional slide guitar later on in the song, with Ginger commenting at the end that it’s fun to play live.

All too soon, a three-song encore kicks off with ‘Inglorious’ before wrapping things up with ‘Suckerpunch’ and ‘I Wanna Go Where The People Go’, two of our favourite Wildhearts tunes and ones that get the whole crowd moving, singing and dancing along. Tonight is a night to remember – for bringing us back to where we belong – in a venue enjoying live music once again by one of Britain’s best bands.

Click HERE for previous Wildhearts photos.

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