Manchester Academy 2 – 03/05/19
The Wildhearts are a band I have heard so many good things about, they have been on numerous festival bills that I have been to, but alas, I have never had the chance to see them, until now. Let me tell you, they did not disappoint.
I entered a sold out Academy 2 and the show as a whole was incredible. There’s something about the atmosphere in the audience of these 90’s bands that is somehow more electric than say some of the more classic rock outfits. I enjoyed every minute and it seemed to get better and better throughout.
Opening with ‘Dislocated’, a track from the new album, the band roared into life. The song set the tone for the rest of the night, loud fast and heavy. The band delivered song after song, classic hard hitting standards such as ‘Everlone’, ‘Sick of Drugs’ and a rendition of ‘Vanilla Radio’ that nearly blew the roof off the venue! That my friends, was only song number three!
The hits kept coming but then, after 13 songs the band finished. I thought they’d played a great show, but that couldn’t be it, could it? No of course it wasn’t, they came back for an encore. The first encore song was ‘Renaissance Man’ and they were recording it for a live video, and then what followed was a further six, yes six songs! The crowd and band were at one, both exerting equal amounts of energy.
The night drew to a close with the brilliant ‘I Wanna Go Where the People Go’, a huge finale song, complete with crowd chants. It ended the night on such a high and left you buzzing. What an absolutely brilliant band and after all the years of trying to catch them, I have to say, The Wildhearts well and truly exceeded my expectations.
