1,229 THE WONDER STUFF, My Life Story, Bristol O2 Academy, Friday 10th June 2022

 

I never loved Elvis, but I’m loving The Wonder Stuff “live” these days! My 19^th time of asking but 7^th in the last 6 years for enduring 80’s/90’s indie/ slightly-delic troubadours The Wonder Stuff; the last time out being the joint 30^th (ish) anniversary celebration of their first 2 albums “The Eight Legged Groove Machine” and “Hup”, back in December 2019 (gig 1,169). So it seemed only fitting that their 3^rd album “Never Loved Elvis”, arguably their biggest commercial album success and furnishing them with their biggest “hit” in their own right in the ubiquitous “Size Of A Cow”, should get the same treatment, albeit Covid-delayed and also one year late… I confess I wasn’t a huge fan of this one at the time, my then shoegazey/US alt-rock dominated tastes finding it a bit too, erm, fiddly diddly... However, on reflection (and repeated recent listens in the car) I now realise my error; it’s a classic, replete with brain hugging hooks aplenty and old school indie bangers whichever way you face. Should be a good one, this, then, particularly as said repeated “Elvis” plays seem to have circumnavigated the Stuffies “block” which Logan had, enough for him to join us!

 Old Level 3 friend and Stuffies fan Robynne and daughter Tia joined us for this one too, The Big Man taking up a short-notice ticket as Rachel cried off ill. A stupidly early doors (6 p.m.!) required an early and slightly convoluted pickup, leaving the house at 20 past 4 and parking up just after 6 after horrible traffic into Bristol itself. Thanks to the O2 Priority entrance and the early door time catching out a lot of punters, Logan and I still got a barrier spot, house right. Yay! Rich and the girls joined us briefly but headed for the bar when My Life Story frontman Jake Shillingford came on at a ridiculously early 6.25 (“the news is still on!” quipped Jake in reference to his early start), Rich not expecting great things from this set. Me neither actually, but I’m happy to admit my error, as Jake was both an entertaining raconteur (stories of MLS inheriting their name from an Ian McNabb onstage quote, Jake’s sideline career writing incidental music for “Masterchef”(!), and hanging out with The Stuffies at the old Dingwalls “Power Station” and Phoenix 1994 filling the between-song gaps nicely) and a player of fine, expansive kitchen-sink drama stripped-back Britpop, with a Suede-like “Archipelago” and the stately Britpop ballad of “Sparkle” my highlights.

 Nary time for a couple of quick comfort breaks for us, before The Stuffies took the stage at 7.15. Yes, 7.15! No game show host antics from frontman Miles Hunt this time; nope, they were straight into the building intro to “Never Loved Elvis” opener “Mission Drive”, violinist Erica subsequently sawing away at the dominant riff, then segueing into a dramatic undulating “Play”, at the end of which Miles welcomed the rapt audience with a, “how the fuck are ya! We’ve been waiting some time to do this!”

 The Stuffies tonight played like a band determined to make up for the Covid-induced lost time, the forced break happily having not a jot of impact upon the quality of their performance. “On it” from the outset, with swish and style, ploughing through this classic album with dramatic and determined intent, with Miles the consummate ruffian frontman, expansive and open, thankfully now well removed from the abrasive, cocksure frontman of yore but still retaining a proud unabashed swagger. “Welcome To The Cheap Seats”, Logan’s favourite, saw him and pretty much everyone else raising the roof to this one, but eliciting a comment from Miles of, “ridiculous! 31 years and you still haven’t figured out how to dance to that one!” “Size Of A Cow” faced no such problems, however, and I found myself forming a strong-armed barrier around Logan to fend off a sudden but good-natured moshpit. “NLE” whipped by in a flash, the oscillating crescendos of my highlight “Here Comes Everyone” requiring and receiving a virtuoso violin performance from Erica, and the subsequent “Caught In My Shadow” (“about my home town – it’s nice, I don’t know why I was so pissed off about it [when I wrote this]!” admitted Miles) almost matching it in its’ nostalgic melancholy. A noisy, jagged and slightly haphazard “38 Line Poem” rounded off a nonetheless superb first set, the band then taking a deserved 15 minute break (“off for a massage!” deadpanned Miles).

 Back on in short order though, the frontman delivering pantomime stretches before embarking on, “this mammoth Springsteen-esque set!”. No exaggeration either; after the 13 numbers of the“NLE” set 1, the Stuffies delivered a further 16 in set 2! No arguments about Milo and Co. giving you bang for your buck, then… a superb “Red Berry Joy Town” and the dynamic build of my perennial favourite “On The Ropes” launched the set brilliantly, Miles then stating, “don’t think you’re getting out of here without hearing some of our recent stuff!”, some wag down the front (ok, me…) responding, “Feet To The Flames!” and immediately getting that request granted with a coruscating version of this, their best post-reunion number. The mid-set jaunty hoedown of “Golden Green” and “that horsey song!” “Ruby Horse” segued into a powerful “Wish Away”, before a touching, delicate and emotionally charged “Piece Of Sky” was dedicated to lost Stuffies Rob “Bass Thing” Jones and Martin Gilkes, Miles then skewering the mood with a post-song comment of. “The Bass Thing would call me a fucking sap for doing that, he’d want some Napalm Death instead!” Despite an earlier comment of feeling, “every one of those 30 years tonight!” Miles, energetic throughout, then led his charges through a superb end-of-set salvo of a breathless, galloping “Don’t Let me Down Gently” and a pounding, thunderous and lengthy “Ten Trenches Deep”, before encores featuring “Unbearable” and closer “Good Night Though” rounded off a stellar 2 ½ hours, Miles fulsomely complimenting the enthusiastic Bristol crowd before he and the band peeled off one by one.

 

That wasn’t it though; we were ushered out quickly (club night, you see…) but hung out by backstage, catching our breath and hopefully waiting for some face time with the man. Thankfully patience was rewarded after Miles dumped his stuff in the tour van, with a nice pic with Logan and a chat about the excellent Nada Surf (I wore the right t-shirt tonight!) and Shiiine On (Miles loves playing there – so Shiiine On, get them back there soon!), before we hit the road, zooming back and dropping our companions off before Logan and I grabbed midnight kebabs, to top off a stellar evening. The Wonder Stuff doing total justice to another of their classic albums tonight; simply wonderful!