Wayne Hussey/Evi Vine

Winchester Discovery Centre

Frontman of The Mission and former member of Dead Or Alive” and The Sisters Of Mercy, Wayne Hussey recently released an in depth book about his life entitled “Salad Days”. The book is just Part One of an interesting history that his fans have been craving for a long time. It features plenty of stories that build up a very real picture of the life of an aspiring musician. As well as playing with his band, Wayne likes to leave his Brazilian home to venture out and play his many songs on the road. Tonight is the 2nd night of a huge tour and is a repeat of a memorable gig that happened here in April 2016 when there was a power cut and Wayne carried on played despite this, sitting amongst the audience performing a really intimate set.

Evi Vine 1–2–3–4

As with that night tonight’s support is Evi Vine and her faithful sidekick Steve who kick off the evening in style. For the past few years Evi has performed with Wayne and The Mission many times, adding her delectable vocals as backing to many of their live performances. As the duo start a respectful welcome hush comes over the audience, while they perform their first number “I Am The Waves”. The tune is a deep emotive piece that introduces Evi’s heart-wrenching vocals that sound somewhere between Beth Gibbons of Portsihead and Julianne Regan of All About Eve. The effect-driven sound coming from the two guitars benefit from this wonderfully acoustic space and the second number “Inside Her” drifts beautifully above the appreciative audience member’s heads. Apart from a few minor technical quibbles the performance is faultless and the breathtaking, inspiringly creative work that these two musicians deliver is worth every effort they have made putting it together. The only disappointment is the set is too short and after around 30 minutes the duo come to their last song. The tune is “My Only Son” a really powerful song that is also affectionately known as “Jack’s Song”. It’s a tune about a devastating loss that features a reassuringly optimistic look at grief and how those of us left behind cope with it. As the tune ends the hall erupts with a huge round of applause, appreciation for a great set from two excellent musicians.

Wayne Hussey 1–2–3

Mr. Hussey needs no introduction and strolls onto the stage with his usual bottle of wine in hand, getting a really warm welcome from the large crowd. His set kicks off with “Absolution” a rarely played tune from the much underrated “God Is A Bullet” album. If you think tonight is going to be all about the band’s greatest hits you would be very wrong. Wayne with these sort of gigs never has a setlist, but a pool of about 100 songs and plays whatever he feels right for the moment or what the audience requests (within reason). A few songs in this intimate affair gets really interesting for the purists as Wayne delivers a trio of songs that have seemingly never ever been played live before. First, we get “That Tears Shall Drown the Wind” a tune from “Blue”, “til the End of Time” from the solo album “Candlelight & Razorblades” and the biggest surprise of all was “Seagull Woman”. The tune was the very first tune that he ever wrote sometime in the early 1970’s, when he was surrounded by Glam Rock and David Bowie which was mentioned in his book.

After a collection of guitar and ukulele performed tracks Wayne steps over to the piano to give us something a little different; a beautiful version of “Dragonfly” where he shows us despite his years, his voice is still in really good form; sounding as good as it has ever has done. Throughout he is chatty and engages with the crowd, referring to the previous gig here and the unusual happenings. The set comes to a close with a brilliant version of “Severina” where Evi Vine was welcomed back to the stage to join in on piano and give her considerable vocals to this fan favourite. Sadly the venue tonight has a 10pm curfew, and despite shouts for more Wayne leaves the stage with very generous applause for his considerable efforts. One snippet of information he did reveal in his set is that The Mission will be regrouping next year for a tour…..which, of course, is amazing news, see you down the front!!

Set List
Wayne Hussey
Absolution
Stay With Me
That Tears Shall Drown The Wind
’til the End of Time
Seagull Woman
Like a Child Again
My Love Will Protect You
Dragonfly
Love (John Lennon cover)
Kingdom Come
No Earthly Cure
Jade
Wither on the Vine
Wasteland/Like a Hurricane/Tower of Strength
Severina (With Evi Vine)