It’s a foul night in Birmingham so it’s nice to get out of the slush and cold and into a sold out Asylum where the atmosphere is already ramped up in anticipation of as close to a home town show as you’re going to get for Wolfsbane.
The Luke Appleton Power Trio are already warming up the crowd. The name isn’t misleading – this is Luke Appleton’s ‘side hustle’ as he put it to his roles in Absolva and Blaze Bayley’s band. They’re a trio and and they play metal (with power!), and very good at it they are too. They tear through tracks ‘Before Your Eyes’ and ‘Stone Broke From My Heart’ form 2019’s Snake Eyes album.
Luke works the crowd well and when he asks everyone to take two steps forward there is no reticence with everyone obliging. A highlight of the set is new song ‘Forever Viking’ that is both about and dedicated to Wayne Turnbull, a friend lost to Covid.
Their Forever Viking tour resumes in February but you can catch him with Absolva at Billesley Rock Club on 22nd December.
Next up are The Spangles who are refreshingly magnificent. Guitarist Ben Marsden is probably best known for playing alongside Warner E Hodges, but don’t expect classic rock. Here he is joined upfront by Polly Fluid of The Idol Dead on bass. Catchy punk rock songs are the order of the day and I’d be surprised if any of them made the three minute mark. An energetic ‘I Don’t Wanna Go’ gets proceedings underway and sets the tone.
‘Get Over Yourself’ has a hint of Wild Thing about it and ‘POTUS’ rocks hard venting at Donald Trump. ‘Back On The Meds Again’ has a big sing-a-long chorus and by the time they reach ‘Growing Up’ their time is up. Fun and exhilarating 30 minutes just isn’t enough and they leave a crowd wanting more.
“There’s a lot of shit happening in the world right now, but we can leave that at the door”. Blaze Bayley’s words resonate with the crowd as much as the band themselves for tonight is a special night. Jase Edwards, battling myeloma, is confined to a wheelchair, Steve Danger suffers from arthritis, earlier this year Blaze suffered a heart attack and has had a quadruple bypass and, we are informed, Jeff Hately has had trouble finding suitable hair products. It’s nothing short of incredible that they’ve managed to pull this lengthy tour together.
Wolfsbane are undoubtedly a special band, particularly to those in the Midlands and many here tonight will have grown up, or at least got older, with the band watching early gigs down the road at Goldwyns or Edwards No. 8 and tonight is as much a celebration of the past as it is for enjoying the moment here and now.
All things considered it would be easy to cut them a little slack if they were a little under par but from the moment they kick things off with ‘Steel’ it’s clear that any such thoughts were foolish. The song hits like the freight train it always was and the band are firing on all cylinders playing with the same vigour and enthusiasm as their youth. Tough as steel indeed.
The ferocious ‘Spit It Out’ from last year’s Genius album follows with Jase giving his tremelo some serious workout. ‘Money To Burn’ has promises that Elon Musk is on his way to give us all tons of cash. I guess he probably got stuck in traffic. Earlier this year Massive Noise Injection celebrated its 30th anniversary and we get to hear ‘End Of The Century’ from that opus.
A couple of newer tracks given an airing with ‘Rock City Nights’ harking back to simple times and ‘Things Are Getting Better’ has the big sing-a-long chorus. The band are clearly relishing playing live and their enjoyment is infectious. We then hit a run of old favourites; ‘Loco’ is as gloriously manic as ever an has the crowd in good voice which follows through to ‘I Like It Hot’. ‘Kathy Wilson’ always proves to be a highlight and ‘Manhunt’ starts to bring the proceedings to a close. A wolf prowls the stage. Not a man in a mask but a real wolf, escaped from the Safari Park just for this gig. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. With red glow sticks held aloft and confetti cannons firing, a brilliant night is brought to a close with a magnificent ‘Paint The Town Red’. Not just a great gig but one that’s surely to go down in Wolfsbane legend.
You can contribute to Wolfsbane’s Tough As Steel fundraiser for Myeloma UK here.
Steel
Spit It Out
Money to Burn
Zombies
End of the Century
Violence
Rock City Nights
Things Are Getting Better
Seen How It’s Done
Loco
I Like It Hot
Temple of Rock
Smoke and Red Light
Kathy Wilson
Manhunt
Ezy
Paint the Town Red
