Miles Hunt & Erica Nockalls/Matt Griffiths

Barrington Theatre, Ferndown

Along with Slade and Madness before them The Wonder Stuff are a band that took the British charts by storm; releasing a host of truly loveable, uplifting singles that with a large slice of tongue in cheek humour were just loved by the British public. Frontman Miles Hunt has been performing original music for over 30 years and shows no sign of slowing down. Tonight; along with his fiddle-playing touring partner Erica Nockalls, they are to make their debut in Ferndown. Not an area you usually expect to find them, but by the look of the sizeable crowd here tonight they appear to be most welcome.

Local singer/songwriter Matt Griffiths is tonight’s support and he arrives on the large Ferndown stage with just a six string acoustic guitar and a warm smile. He is engaging and puts everybody at ease, warming up the crowd with a good choice of covers as well as a couple of originals. These include the title track of his debut album “England Shore”, which was released earlier this year. The tune includes a traditional folk story-telling style that’s not too dissimilar to the Levellers mode of delivery. Matt raises a smile with a cover of S-Club 7’s “Reach” and looking around, the vast majority of us were trying our best not to sing along to avoid the shame of knowing the lyrics. The singer leaves the stage after a solid 45 minute set with plenty of praise from the appreciative audience.

Matt Griffiths 1

The Miles and Erica acoustic live experience is one I have sampled many times, and each time I have been thoroughly entertained with a great evening. Tonight; I’m sure having never played Ferndown before, the duo are not sure what to expect from this little-known suburb of Bournemouth. They receive a very warm welcome from the 150 or so people in the audience. Before playing each tune Miles delights us with various interesting stories from past and present. He said, this week had been an unplanned boozy week after bumping into Dutch progressive Rock band Focus in a hotel bar in Bristol, where they were up jamming with them until the early hours of the morning.

The audience is treated to a few reworked acoustic versions of tracks from the Wonder Stuff’s 30th Anniversary album “30 Goes Around The Sun”, including the single “For the Broken Hearted”. During a short interval from the music, Miles in a “Jackanory style” reads an excerpt from his recently published diaries, which as you would expect was truly fascinating, a nice addition to the evening.

Miles Hunt 1–2–3–4–5

There are of course lots of hits including the uplifting “On The Ropes”, “Mission Drive”, “Golden Green” and of course “The Size of a Cow”. The duo perform these tracks without a second thought, they are so tight and have a beautiful on stage chemistry that is a delight to watch. Miles and Erica along with The Wonder Stuff are back in Dorset on the 16th December for a Christmas Shindig at the 02 Academy.

Set List
Miles Hunt & Erica Nockalls
Don’t You Ever
Be Thy Name
Manna from Heaven
Friendly Company
On the Ropes
Mission Drive
Circlesquare

Miles Book Reading

The Cake
For The Broken Hearted
Ruby Horse
Golden Green
Size of a Cow
Caught in My Shadow
Room 512
Here Comes Everyone

Matt Griffiths
The A Team
Johnny Come Lately
England Shore
With a Little Help from My Friends
Hope Street
Julie
July 1916
Reach For the Stars
Ring of Fire
Get Lucky
The Gambler

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