I sit here, bruised, batterred and thouroghly exhausted after one helluva Road trip to see Wheatus at Norwich on the 4th July.
It started very early on in the morning. I had arranged to pick up both Claire Frogwheat and Lil Froggette (Claire and Loz) at Blackburn train station. From there we embarked on a long journey down to Norwich. we set off from Blackburn at 8.30am..and got to Norwich at 1.30pm. 5 hours in some of the slowest moving traffic I've ever come across. But we got there eventually, and got parked.
We set off to find the venue. When we did find it we were surprised to find it such a .....small venue really. We met up with a few frogs who had gotten there earlier (Comedy Devil, Flick, Gemma and a few others ...(Glenn is bad with names!!)) We were informed that the band hadnt arrived yet so we were quite happy to sit around and chat for a while. When it came to an hour later..the topic changed to.."Are they actually coming?? Did they get lost?? Did they Break Down??" There was no sign of the tour bus at all.
It wasnt until 3.40pm that the bus turned up...to our great relief!! BBB and Pete made a quick appearence to say hi's to all and explained their lateness was due to their tour bus driver Chris having to leave suddenly that morning as he was awaiting a kidney transplant, and the kidneys he had been waiting for had arrived. Obviously he had to go but the band were delayed until a new driver could be arranged.
Hi's being said the guys went to get showered, promising to return shortly, which they did. Phil also made a quick appearence and I ended up talking to him and Vanesa for a while.
The soundcheck started around 5.15pm. All the frogs got in and it was a fantastic experience. They jammed for ages and it sounded superb. We even got treated to a performance of Whole Amoeba. BBB was toying with a new intro to Hump'em n' dump'em. The song they tend to open shows with. They used a riff from Dire Straits money for nothin', but BBB thought it sucked..so they ended up using the normal intro. Lauren and Claire managed to give Phil the 'shaky fruit' things they had bought him. He semed pleased by them, using them in the soundcheck..and later on in the show.
After soundcheck it was a case of waiting for the gig to start. Pete came out and hung with the frogs again for a while. And as the crowds started to turn up for the gig..We decided to make our way to the front of the queue. When the doors opened at 7.30pm..we all made our way to the front of the stage.
Dirty Harry took to the stage at 8pm..they were good. Harry the female singer has a great voice. But the songs were a touch dated sounding..but I thought they had a good stage pressence and the crowd liked them.
Originally, I was going to post very little about the Wheatus gig itself. Everyone knows they rock so I thought I would have little to add to that well known fact. But tonight...
Tonight..they were electric....totally on fire!!!
I was totally swept up in their performance. They all performed stunningly, all of them lookig totally natural and in complete harmony with each other..from the music to their movements. Brendan was alive with energy, moving around the stage in a swirl as the gig progressed. Phil of course was his entertaining best. It's so hard to take your eyes off him due to the fact you feel you might miss something hillarious. He was on form. He and Brendan perectly balance each other out on stage. Mike and Pete too were also on fine form..Mike was furiously pounding his base and Pete kept that beat tight and LOUD!!! Mike apparently broke his first bass string since starting out with the band, and later in the show. Phil also was playing his Bezuki with a string dangling broken. They played with a fury that night! With Vanesa on backings she complemented BBB's vocals perfectly.
There was a lot of interaction amongst the band..none of them keeping still for long..at one very bizarre point in the show, All of them crowded around Petes drumkit, Mike even went so far as to crouch so low it looked like he was trying to hide.Very entertaining and funny!
The set was also longer than when I had seen them last. They all jammed longer with the songs..taking them to new levels of sound. And we also had the welcome addition of William McGovern to the set list...a truly fantastic song live.
The security was great. They supplied water for all who needed it, and even assisted earlier in the evening when we got one of the guards to take numerous pics on numerous cameras with all the frogs with Pete!
The crowd too was amazing, very few crowdsurfers and an amazing vibe was generated that just added to the night.
My personal highlights of the show were very memorable. The first one was that on their second number, "A Little Respect", Vanesa caught my eye when she started pointing at me and smiling as she sang "..I'm so in love with you..."..which caused me to laugh and of course..sing back! After the show I saw her and Phil briefly..and I said.."Dont think I didnt see you sing to me during ALR!!!" They laughed at that and and Vanesa returned.."Oh I'm gonna do that at ALL the shows now!!!' LOL! Phil just kept laughing..!!!
My second highlight was during th eend of the show, BBB picked people out of the crowd to join them onstage for the end of 'Dirtbag' and 'Truffles'. BBB picked loads out of the audience..about 10 people..and I was one of the lucky 10! The security guard had a little trouble getting me over the barriers..as I was wedged in tight from the crowd..he said afterwards when I left the stage "Christ, I always get the light ones dont I!!" cheek!
Anyway..it was fantastic on stage, dancing around with Wheatus all around us. Totally magic. Sam, Flick and Gem were also there. BBB even brought out the whole of the support band Dirty Harry to dance on stage with us. It was very cool!!
The one dissapointment the frogs had was the venue would not allow VIF passes for aftershow meetings. Although Phil & Vanesa signed some of the younger kids album covers and such, the kids who couldnt get into the show..but turned up with parents. They did that just before they got on the tour bus. Pete, Mike and BBB came out later to say goodbyes, have pics taken with and sign stuff. So it wasnt too bad for those who waited.
The gig over, the guys gone (they were heading off that night again), Claire, Lauren and I returned to the car and made the journey home again. I fropped them off in Blackpool around 3.30am...and got home myself about an hour later!!!
One very tired, bruised but happy frog
signing out!!
Warpangel
