“Around 39 years ago, on Enville Street in Stourbridge….we wrote this fucker!”, yelled Miles Hunt as The Wonder Stuff launched into ‘Unbearable’, just one of numerous guitar pop anthems that littered debut album The Eight Legged Groove Machine. They were welcomed by a packed out Civic Hall that was quite literally bursting at the seams as latecomers had to peer through open doorways to catch a glimpse of the stage. Tonight, band and crowd were gathered to celebrate 40 years of the Stuffies doing their thing, and Hunt duly acknowledged it is all about nostalgia as they only played two songs from this century. And yet judging by the make up of the audience not everyone here tonight has been along for the entire ride; the Wonder Stuff have found admirers from the younger generation, some of who have perhaps discovered the band through the joys of digging through parents’ record collections.
They opened with ‘Mission Drive’, the same song that began The Big Day Out all those years ago at Bescot Stadium, and once the raucous energy kicked in they could do no wrong. Flanked by guitarists Malcolm Treece and Mark Gemini Thwaite, Hunt is still a remarkable frontman who bubbles with enthusiasm and charisma. Along with the aforementioned debut, Never Loved Elvis was well represented and included the catchy refrain of ‘Caught in my Shadow’, the brooding ‘Sleep Alone’ and the polarising ‘The Size of a Cow’, the one that everyone remembers them for and yet remains a long way from being their best song.
Second album Hup was only revisited a handful of times, with the delightful folk pop of sing-a-long ‘Golden Green’ highlighted by Erica Nockalls virtuosity on the violin. In a nice touch during the encore, ‘Can’t Shape Up’ was dedicated to the late Rob ‘The Bass Thing’ Jones, with his red Musicman Stingray bass brought on stage and held aloft by Thwaite. The pulsating ‘Who Wants to Be the Disco King’ and furious ‘Ten Trenches Deep’ closed out the night, leaving everyone in no doubt that they are a band in superb form right now. Still capable of sounding bright and breezy and spiky and cynical within the same song, forty years have done nothing to diminish the enduring appeal of Miles, Malc and the rest of the band. So God Bless the Wonder Stuff and, as the back of the tour shirt declared, “God Bless the fuckin’ lot of us”.
Mission Drive
Play
Donation
In Clover
Don’t Let Me Down, Gently
A Wish Away
Here Comes Everyone
Circlesquare
Caught in My Shadow
The Size of a Cow
The Guy With the Gift
Sleep Alone
Don’t Anyone Dare Give a Damn
Red Berry Joy Town
On the Ropes
Golden Green
Unbearable
Give, Give, Give Me More, More, More
It’s Yer Money I’m After, Baby
Can’t Shape Up
Who Wants to Be the Disco King?
Ten Trenches Deep
