Ned’s Atomic Dustbin @ Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall – 23rd May 2009
I have been watching The Ned’s since 1987, and seeing this gig billed as ‘Re-Union’ a little spark inside me started. Would the original line-up, featuring Tracey on backing vocals, grace the stage once more, treating us to ‘Out ov my tree’, ‘Plug me in’, ‘That’s nice’, and ‘Turnaround’. Alas no. It’s the original line-up but Tracey is nowhere to be seen.
It’s a shame that we weren’t given passes to this gig, hence why no stage pictures, but a ticket was very easily sourced and for less than face value, as they say “every cloud…”.
Inside the Wulfrun the merchandise stand is selling the Martin Roach book and a special t-shirt for this gig, simply emblazoned with ‘Home’, although technically the band members came from Stourbridge, but Wolverhampton is seen as a live home, after the annual Christmas shows in the early nineties.
So to the gig, first up are We Crash Planes, a four piece band who had a great bass and drum melody. However the vocals start and it all goes wrong. Plane crash may be nearer the mark!
Next up are Vileevils. It’s not very often you see them listed without ‘featuring ex-members of PWEI’ or ‘formerly Pop Will Eat Itself’. As it is the Vileevils consists of Graham, Adam and Fuzz from the Poppies and they make a sound which is best described as Poppies demos. They have great tunes, but live it doesn’t sound finished. The vocals were not aided by the ski-mask that Graham was wearing throughout. Adam and Fuzz also adopted similar attire, but Fuzz ditched his quite soon. The three looked as though they’d escaped from ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and I’m not quite sure what the significance of the masks was. I have to pay respect to Fuzz and wonder when he actually sleeps, as I saw him here a few weeks ago playing in Pama International, and I also read his column in Practical Classics. Does he ever stop working? They did play a Poppies track, ‘Axe of Men’ and this was the highlight of the night. If only they could get Richard back and do more Poppies stuff.
Whist their kit is cleared from the stage a loud roar from the crowd goes up, and helping to move stuff is Richard, so he’s here, just a shame he couldn’t have been persuaded to join them on stage.
At twenty-five past nine the lights go down and a classical piece of intro music starts. The Ned’s walk out and straight into ‘Suave and Suffocated’. The crowd, made up of a variety of ages goes mad, well at the front anyway, but this may be because the cameras are on them. The gig is being recorded for, as I believe, a later release.
‘All I ask of myself’ is next but for some reason the lighting person sees fit to blind the crowd by using high ceiling lights, which is not a good idea. ‘Not Sleeping Around’ is next, and this time we get constant strobes, an epileptic’s nightmare, before going into ‘Until You Find Out’.
Four songs in and Jonn announces to the crowd “Good evening, we are Ned’s Atomic Dustbin”.
‘Walking through syrup’ is next and then “you were probably in the video for this” before they play ‘Happy’ during which Jonn does his dance, similar to someone stuck in a straight-jacket. ‘Aim’, ‘Two and Two Made Five’, a strange choice and one I don’t recall them playing before, even when the ‘Are You Normal’ album came out.
‘Stuck’, ‘Legoland’ and ‘Trust’ follow before Jonn says “to quote John Denver, it’s good to be back home”.
I have to admit there was little chat between the songs, and at times I almost got the impression of let’s get through this as quick as we can, play the songs and get off stage.
I was also a little puzzled at some of the song choices. The gig was billed as ’21 years, 21 tracks’ and 21 tracks it was but there were a few notable omissions, such as ‘My Son’ and ‘Terminally Groovie’. The majority of the set seemed to centre around the ‘Are You Normal’ album plus the singles.
Next up was ‘Traffic’, ‘Leg End in His Own Boots’, ‘Cut up’, ‘Selfish’, ‘Grey Cell Green’, ‘Tantrum’ and ‘Throwing things’ before they leave the stage. It’s Half-past ten and for some reason my mind flits to the car-park which closes at eleven, and I’m not the only one as I overhear others talking about the closing time, and some are actually leaving.
The inevitable encore consisted of ‘Intact’ and ‘Kill Your Television’ before ‘Titch’, during which Jonn leaves the stage. When finished the band return to take a bow and it’s all over. “We’ll see you next year”, so there may be more in the pipeline, or it may just mean the DVD release of tonight.
As a life-long fan of Ned’s for over 22 years I was a little disappointed tonight. What I would call key tracks were not played, and there just didn’t seem any stage presence. The backdrop was two logos but this left the centre, behind Dan’s drum-kit, blank and a large single logo in the centre would’ve looked better. Perhaps I’m being too critical, but as I say we go back a long way, and I have actually paid to get in so I’m allowed my opinion.
As I leave I notice all the t-shirts have been sold, but I’m still wondering if I’ll make the car-park in time.
Set-list:
Suave And Suffocated
All I Ask Of Myself Is That I Hold Myself Together
Not Sleeping Around
Until You Find Out
Walking Through Syrup
Happy
Aim
Two and Two made Five
Stuck
Legoland
Trust
Traffic
Leg End in his own boots
Cut Up
Selfish
Grey Cell Green
Tantrum
Throwing Things
Intact
Kill Your Television
Titch
Review by Glenn Raybone
OMG !! were you really there ?? i hope you dont get paid to write your reviews.
Aw, come on mate! This gig was much better than the Xmas concert & teh Stourbridge convert in 2007. You could really feel the love! Best gig in years!!!!!
Youve obviously never seen the Vileevils before then on their first tour they played a few poppies tracks aswell as their own stuff but are gradually moving away from the ex pwei moniker which for us true fans is great and yes axe of men was good but wasted and fucking and fighting were better as was Demon even though adams mask got in the way.Yes the sound wasnt great but then again i would blame the sound engineer lol,if you had been at the astoria in december they sounded awesome and it was near enough the same set. Once they get the album out and start gigging seriously again they are going to kick ass.