The Wildhearts/Those Damn Crows

September 12, 2021 Off By Jon

Madding Crowd, Bournemouth

I could not quite believe it myself when this was first announced; The Wildhearts and Those Damn Crows performing together at the Madding Crowd in Bournemouth. It’s a mouth-watering pairing that was secured by the venue’s promotor Gordon Kimber and from his future ambitions, this certainly won’t be the last of big-name acts to appear here. The Madding Crowd has gone through a metamorphosis over the lockdown period with many subtle changes applied to make it one of the area’s top venues. The venue has now put behind it the issues it had when it first opened and now offers a full capacity of 300.

Those Damn Crows are one of the UK’s most up and coming bands, arriving on this tour on the back on their biggest Sold Out headline, hometown gig at Cardiff Castle. The band arrive on stage and considering it’s their first gig in Bournemouth, they get a rapturous welcome from the crowd; who immediately start moving to the opening number, the Planet Rock playlisted “Who Did It”. Due to The Wildhearts gear already set up on stage, the band have limited space in which to move about and frontman Shane makes use of the walk ways and any available space to get the crowd involved as much as he can. He even climbs up on the bar at one point, delivering his significant vocals above the crowd. The band’s melodic twin-guitar sound soars beautifully through the venue’s fine sound system with uplifting tracks like ‘Someone Someday’ and the emotional ‘Blink of an Eye’. The band’s final towering number ‘Rock N Roll Ain’t Dead’ gets the crowd singing with much enthusiasm and shows what future contenders they indeed are.

Those Damn Crows 1–2–3–4–5

For a band who has been around since the late 1980’s and still manages to produce impressive and creative albums is no mean feat. The Wildhearts have just released their 10th studio album called 21st Century Love Songs and it’s an absolute corker, full of creative and well-written relevant material. Turning up in Bournemouth the band are playing one of the most intimate shows of the 18 date UK Tour and the near 300 strong audience are in fine voice, as the band enters with their usual intro “Don’t Worry About Me”. Kicking off with the powerful “Diagnosis” there is a real excitable atmosphere in the place. One of the new album tracks comes in the form of “Remember These Days”; which has been reworked to include a lengthy medley of a mix of tracks in the middle, before once again returning to the song. This line-up of the band has a real brotherhood with Ginger and Cj showing some great chemistry with their guitar skills, while the rhythm section of drummer Ritch Battersby and bassist (the ever-popular) Danny McCormack show their worth with impressive accompaniment.

The Wildhearts 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9

Many of the newer songs from the last couple of albums have become a staple part of their set and one of these ‘Dislocated’ seems to have been turned into a firm fan favourite, with its powerful lyrics and sing-a-long chorus; fans have certainly taken it to their hearts. The band leave the stage after a stunning, fast-paced sixty minutes of pure joy; only to be called back when the audience started up a much louder rendition of “Don’t Worry about me’, which seemed to get faster and faster until the band returned. We are treated to a four song encore that just cements what a great night this has been in the company of a band that are still one of the best live acts out there.

Set Lists
The Wildhearts
Diagnosis
Vanilla Radio
Sick of Drugs
Remember These Days / Turning American / Schizophonic / Girlfriend Clothes / If Life Is Like a Lovebank I Want an Overdraft / Splattermania
Caffeine Bomb
The Jackson Whites
Dislocated
Splitter
Mazel Tov Cocktail
Caprice

Encore
Inglorious
Let ‘Em Go
Suckerpunch
I Wanna Go Where the People Go

Those Damn Crows
Who Did It
Long Time Dead
Someone Someday
Don’t Give A Damn
Devil In My Pocket
Blink of an Eye
Sin on Skin
Rock N Roll Ain’t Dead

Videos