Simon Rushworth
@ Newcastle o2 Academy, September 28 2009
Monday night madness in the O2 Academy with The Black Spiders and The Wildhearts playing some absolute mind blowing rock anthems. The night began with some big metal riffs and a pounding rhythm section.
The Black Spiders stated on their MySpace page ‘if you like the first three albums that Black Sabbath did then you will like The Black Spiders’. Comparing themselves to Black Sabbath was possibly a bit optimistic but although they do not quite fill the whole boot, they are a few sizes of it – a very entertaining band. During a thrilling 30-minute set the highlight was The Force.
The venue was far from full to capacity but those present knew exactly what they came for. They came to bask in the music of the band that was founded so many years ago in their very own Newcastle.
And The Wildhearts leapt straight in with The Jackson Whites off their new album Chutzpah!. The audience gave them the return that they deserved and Ginger (lead vocals) was more than happy to give it back to the fans with the bold announcement that they would play two sets – firstly their full album and secondly their greatest hits featuring the songs that made the crowd fall in love with them in the first place.
The Wildhearts released their new album independently – putting themselves out there again in front of the major labels. They’ve put in oceans of effort and if they can get half the support that the fans in Newcastle showed them then they shouldn’t have any trouble at all finding a bigger home for Chutzpah!.
In the second set the band started off in state of confusion but after a little help from the audience Geordie In Wonderland was the obvious call and this was possibly the most fitting choice – a song about the people for the people.
This set was jam packed with the classics, such as I Wanna Go Where The People Go, My Baby Is A Head Fuck, Sucker Punch, Nothing Ever Changes, Red Light Green Light and to top a superb night of electrifying rock we got 29x The Pain. A wild night. A Wildhearts night.
Adam Slater
* Check out Ginger’s review here: