Page 36 - Black Velvet Rock Magazine Issue 111

BV111 pg34-37 mammoth wvh.qxp_BV111 pg 36 07/12/2024 22:35 Page 3

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We get an almost equal mix of material
from each of his albums tonight, including
the upbeat 'Like A Pastime', the dark and
brooding 'Optimist', the slower but relentless
'Stone', and the recently-introduced 'Better
Than You'. One of the many highlights is the
goosebump-inducing 'Distance', the first
song Wolf released and which is a tribute to
his dad; it is extremely emotional. He also in-
troduces 'Think It Over' as his dad's favourite
song of his. 'Epiphany' features the words
'I've never felt so alive' in the chorus, which
must be how Wolf feels tonight as he contin-
ues to receive rapturous applause and
cheers. He turns this into an audience chal-
lenge at one point, getting the people in the
balcony and on the floor to compete against
each other to see who can cheer the loudest.
He also has a bit of fun later as he asks ev-
eryone to boo their tour manager Mik as he
has heard that people from Birmingham
don't like people from London.
The main set ends with 'Take A Bow', in-
cluding a spellbinding bit of soloing from
Wolf, which the fans eagerly lap up.
Before the first encore, Wolf tells us that
they will never forget their first headline show
in the UK, before the band starts an ex-
tended intro to 'Don't Back Down', during
which Wolf introduces each member of his
band. When he finally gets to Ronnie, the
one he introduces last, he announces that
today is Ronnie's 40th birthday, so he gets
everyone to sing 'Happy Birthday' to him,
while a crew member brings out a caterpillar
cake with candles on it, which Ronnie enthu-
siastically blows out. The band then launch
into the main song, with its heavy, chugging
riffs and singalong chorus which receives
ear-splitting responses.

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