Page 49 - Black Velvet Magazine Issue 98

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THE WILDHEARTS / THE URBAN VOODOO MACHINE – LEAMINGTON SPA ASSEMBLY, 28.07.18
Towards the end of tonight’s Wildhearts show, frontman Ginger Wildheart tells the crowd that some shows are emotional, some shows are spiritual
and some shows are medicinal – but this one was all three. He’d had a tough week or two, and for both Ginger and many of the crowd, this show was
just what the doctor ordered.
But first, The Urban Voodoo Machine. Tom Spencer, it seems, is a bit like a bus. We haven’t seen him for years, and then he pops up twice in just
over a month. Last time, he was fronting The Professionals as support to Billy Idol. This time, he’s a member of The Urban Voodoo Machine, who, as
their backdrop states, are ‘Bourbon Soaked Gypsy Blues Bop ‘N’ Stroll’ from London. They’re quite an interesting bunch of characters playing an as-
sortment of instruments such as the saxophone, double bass, harmonica and accordion – as well as featuring two drummers, one looking a little like
Frankenstein. Dressed all in red
and black and fronted by Paul-
Ronney Angel, they are part like a
scary circus in a horror movie, but
also part humorous, fun and enter-
taining. A gong marks the begin-
ning of the show and the
theatricalities commencing. Songs
such as ‘High Jeopardy Thing’
hark back to the jazz-infused
cabaret bar rooms of the 50s and
60s, while ‘Crazy Maria’ is a fla-
menco-tinged festivity. We’re told
that ‘While We Were All Asleep’ is
about ‘being fucked in the ass by
Theresa May’ – this is comedy at
the same time as being unfortu-
nate social commentary. The
Urban Voodoo Machine are defi-
nitely an interesting band to see,
and make a change from just your
usual run-of-the-mill support band.
Kicking off with ‘Sick Of Drugs’,
suddenly the dark, dismal rain
clouds that had hounded the day
outside are nowhere to be found
as the magical musical rays from
The Wildhearts brighten up the
Spa. ‘TV Tan’, ‘My Baby Is A Head-
fuck’, ‘Suckerpunch’… the Assem-
bly has turned into rock ‘n’ roll
heaven. The crowd dances and
throws shapes in synchronicity to
Ginger’s flailing dreadlocks and
razor-sharp riffs. And then the
super-charged ‘Caffeine Bomb’,
‘Vanilla Radio’… the gems keep
dropping like diamonds from the
sky. Packed with energy and effer-
vescence, The Wildhearts’ cata-
logue really is a buzz-generator.
The melodic ‘Nothing Ever
Changes But The Shoes’ calms
the pace slightly. Ginger tells the
audience he’d like to take every
single person to dinner at least
once in his life, while in ‘Weekend’
(while mentioning Jon Bon Jovi)
Ginger asks the audience to make
different and strange noises – they
don’t seem to understand the con-
cept though as half of them just
sing the next line of the song – or
just cheer. Bassist Danny McCor-
mack takes over lead vocals for
‘Anthem’, while it’s before ‘29x The
Pain’ in the encore that Ginger
speaks about the show being
emotional, spiritual and medicinal.
As the crowd sings loudly along to
final number ‘I Wanna Go Where
The People Go’, you know that
this show made not just Ginger,
but everyone there, alive again.
YYYYY
Shari Black Velvet
Ginger Wildheart (The Wildhearts) Photo
By Shari Black Velvet

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