The Wildhearts Review at Picturedrome, Holmfirth

The Wildhearts and Janus Stark at the Picturedrome, Holmfirth, 10th October 2019

With the recent release of the mini-album Diagnosis, The Wildhearts embark on their Renaissance Men Tour Part II, bringing with them special guests Janus Stark.

With a decent-sized crowd and a nice buzzing atmosphere in the Picturedrome pre-show. Talk amongst the fans was a little confused, as many people thought there were to be two support acts tonight? Well, it would seem they were right but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Janus Stark main support

Janus Stark is the main touring support for The Wildhearts and in their own words, they are ‘jazzed’ to be playing on tour with them. Singer and guitarist Gizz Butt might be familiar as the former live guitarist for the band Prodigy during the late nineties. At around the same time, Gizz formed his own band Janus Stark. Prior to that Gizz made his name with cross over punks English Dogs.

Reforming in 2018, Janus Stark bring you their experimental post-punk vibe. Never heard of them before? Think, all the hard edgy harmonies and kick-ass riffs of Nirvana mixed with the punkish vibes of The Undertones and ta-da you get Janus Stark.

Ahead of their time, the majority of songs they play tonight are from the album Great Adventure Cigar made back in 1998. The tracks Janus Stark have chosen to play make a great impact with the crowd from opener Enemy Lines to the ardent Clique with its deep bass rhythm and punchy sound, it grabs your attention.

The beginning of Floyd (what are you on) is reminiscent of The Pixies, Debaser but its Gizz’s distinct vocals that sets them apart. I like Butt’s vocal stylings on the sprightly Barriers, as he delivers the goods old school punk.

Finishing up with the anthemic Every Little Thing Counts. Gizz jests in serious ”that every little thing you do in life counts and buying some merch’ will go a long way to help support the band to get to the next gig”.

Watch out for more coming from Janus Stark in 2020 – click here for more info on Janus Stark

The Wildhearts

The Wildhearts are on a good run, with a few intermissions along the way, the band have been out full force since the release of their album Renaissance Men back in May this year. Giving more and more, they have just released Diagnosis a six-track mini-album, which sees this October tour kicking into place.

There’s no messing about as The Wildhearts launch straight into Diagnosis a song about mental health. The band has teamed up with and are donating the proceeds of the mini-album to the Samaritans. As you may know (or not), The Wildhearts history is a fellowship made on the grounds of a band wanting to succeed that has been caught out by its own trappings of debauchery and recklessness, including drug use. Moving forward, the band have always been about the music and they are not about to stop now!

Kudos to The Wildhearts for changing up their set-list songs, some bands keep the same songs rolling and to be honest that gets very boring, quick! Introducing My Kinda Movie, from Renaissance Men, this newbie fires itself nicely into tonight’s set.

The riotous Dislocated with its infectious polarity is The Wildhearts to the core and the Fine Art of Deception also from Renaissance Men stands alongside their hits of Vanilla Radio and Caffeine Bomb. It’s great to see the new album songs resonate so well with their fan base; as they sing them back to the band. You can tell The Wildhearts are proud of their achievements.

Earlier I mentioned there was supposed to be another support act? As Ginger gives a mention to the non-show of Pizza??? the second support band that didn’t show up tonight. As the crowd gives a ‘boo’ Ginger coyly says ‘”well they might’ve been in an accident or something but if not”….”You’ve got Danny, who is full of cold but still here for you and CJ and Ritch and of course, me!!”

It’s good to see The Wildhearts in good spirits and enjoying themselves.

Encore

Taking a well-deserved encore. This is the part of the show where The Wildhearts play ‘don’t worry about me’ over a backing track. A homage that has been going since the year dot…! Normally, their fans are straight on it and sing the verse back, as they wait for their band to return to the stage. However, it wasn’t until The Wildhearts returned and Ginger pointed out that he enjoyed that song and ‘they’ should sing some more; that the crowd got the vibe and began a sing-a-along!

The ever-popular Earth Vs The Wildhearts album provided the tracks to bring their set to a close with penultimate track Everlong and closer Shame on Me.

Long may The Wildhearts resurgence continue, with a stack of new material, they are armed and ready for the next ten years.