Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Originally published by L.S. Media. March 5th 2011.
The Wonderstuff have ploughed a trough so few bands have been able to emulate, let alone follow. With so few peers to have come from the area of formation, notably Pop Will Eat itself and to an extent Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, it is no wonder that Miles Hunt and the original members of the band carved a huge niche in the Midlands.
In 2010 the established new version of the band toured to critical success alongside Liverpool based Amsterdam, now it seems the band are hungry for more of the same.
The band opened up their support slot to the Levellers with Red Berry Joy Town from the 1988 studio album The Eight Legged Groove Machine and from that moment on never let go of an audience that might have been there initially for the main event but who didn’t stop bouncing and enjoying a support act whose music flowed as if they had never stopped recording.
Both Miles Hunt and stunning violinist Erica Nockalls have just finished touring as a duet and even though some members of other bands would be jaded after so much time on the road, this pair of musicians bubbled with excitement and a devil may care whilst never stopping grinning their way through what is now their 25th anniversary as a band.
The band, acknowledging they were on a tight time limit powered through tracks, each one of them as memorable as the last, these included the fantastic Here Comes Everyone and Caught in My Shadow from the 1991 album Never Loved Elvis, Mother and I and the incredible barnstorming Size of a Cow which received huge applause for their timing and sincerity of playing a long honoured song.
The Wonderstuff gave the kind of performance you don’t normally expect from a support act, but always hope that you will witness, one of the finest exponents of their generation and a sheer delight to catch live.
Ian D. Hall