The Wonder Years (Hippodrome, 9.7.17)
Back to the Hippodrome for my second Wonder Years gig of 2017.
First on were The Dirty Nil from Ontario. Their shouty brand of rock n roll didn't do an awful lot for me. Points off for closing their set with Cheap Trick's "Surrender", one of the most covered songs in rock. Next up, Exeter's Muncie Girls demonstrated a great deal more verve in their half hour support set, combining catchy riffs with decent hooks in their socially conscious songs. Would listen again.
It was another dreadfully flat start from The Wonder Years and I had a distinct feeling of deja vu. They admitted that this three show UK jaunt was their first show in months and initially it showed with inert renditions of "Local Man Ruins Everything" and "I Don't Like Who I Was Then". The guitars seemed dulled as quiet as they did back in Camden in February. The energy of this Kingstonian crowd drag the band through a couple of cult album tracks before the superb, poignant "Cigarettes & Saints" seems to get us back on track.
"Passing Through A Screen Door" is as raw and as resonant live here as it is on record, whilst "I Wanted So Badly To Be Brave" becomes an unexpected highlight of the set purely by the band giving some welly, to use a very British expression. That momentum carries into "I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral", the band's seven minute existential juggernaut and one of their finest tracks. By the time the entire crowd have sung the chorus of "Came Out Swinging" back at the band during the encore, it appears The Wonder Years have swung the balance in their favour. Their lack of consistency continues to frustrate though. They might lay a claim to be the best pop-punk band of their generation and yet the jury is still out on them as a live act.
First on were The Dirty Nil from Ontario. Their shouty brand of rock n roll didn't do an awful lot for me. Points off for closing their set with Cheap Trick's "Surrender", one of the most covered songs in rock. Next up, Exeter's Muncie Girls demonstrated a great deal more verve in their half hour support set, combining catchy riffs with decent hooks in their socially conscious songs. Would listen again.
It was another dreadfully flat start from The Wonder Years and I had a distinct feeling of deja vu. They admitted that this three show UK jaunt was their first show in months and initially it showed with inert renditions of "Local Man Ruins Everything" and "I Don't Like Who I Was Then". The guitars seemed dulled as quiet as they did back in Camden in February. The energy of this Kingstonian crowd drag the band through a couple of cult album tracks before the superb, poignant "Cigarettes & Saints" seems to get us back on track.
"Passing Through A Screen Door" is as raw and as resonant live here as it is on record, whilst "I Wanted So Badly To Be Brave" becomes an unexpected highlight of the set purely by the band giving some welly, to use a very British expression. That momentum carries into "I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral", the band's seven minute existential juggernaut and one of their finest tracks. By the time the entire crowd have sung the chorus of "Came Out Swinging" back at the band during the encore, it appears The Wonder Years have swung the balance in their favour. Their lack of consistency continues to frustrate though. They might lay a claim to be the best pop-punk band of their generation and yet the jury is still out on them as a live act.
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