It's almost 1am, I'm wide awake, my ears are ringing and my throat hurts; the sign of a good gig if you ask me! What gig might you ask? Well I'm just home from Scotland's very own Wet Wet Wet of course! Yes, I was one of the lucky 13,000 people to catch Wet Wet Wet's hometown gig at the SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow.
Despite previously seeing different band members as part of solo projects on a number of occasions, I'd never seen Wet Wet Wet live. My Mum tells me that she had tickets to take me when I was roughly about 5 years old but typically, I came down with the flu and didn't get to go. Over a decade later (gosh that feels weird saying that!) I finally got to attend one of their gigs!
Whilst waiting for the band to hit the stage we were treated to two support acts; a gentleman named Ben McKelvey followed by Markus Feehily from Westlife. In between acts a soundtrack of some great songs from the 80s/90s filled the arena which certainly kept me happy as I sung away to myself as my Mum popped in and out with a couple of Pepsis and a big bag of chocolate buttons for me (very rock n' roll!) and a wine or two for her so that we didn't need to move once the band hit the stage.
At 8:55pm to be exact the lights went off and the band walked on to a very loud eruption of roars followed by lead singer Marti Pellow wearing a pair of black sunglasses. They immediately began with 'East of the River' from their debut album 'Popped in Souled Out' released back in the mid 80s. Now, at most gigs I've attended in past it usually takes a good few songs before the crowd really get into it and let loose. Not on this occasion! From the word go everyone were singing along at the top of their voices, up on their feet dancing and generally just having a good old time! Continuing with the 80s numbers 'Wishing I Was Lucky', their first ever single which was also from the 'Popped in Souled Out' album came next. Brilliant songs and a great opening to the show!
This was followed by songs such as 'Sweet Surrender' from the 'Holding Back The River' album and 'Julie Says' from the 'Picture This' which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year hence 'The Big Picture Tour'. And just a little while later, the UK number one song 'Goodnight Girl' which saw the entire arena filled with around 13,000 people singing along at the top of their voices. As you know, I've attended a lot of gigs in recent years but never experienced an audience quite like that before. Incredible atmosphere! 'Glasgow, you're in the band!' said lead singer Marti Pellow. 'You all have the X Factor' he also added quite evidently taken aback by the reception from their hometown audience.
A medley of songs from the early days consisting of 'Angel Eyes', 'Temptation' & their cover of The Beatles' 'With A Little Help From My Friends' soon followed. Yet again, the audience gave their best performance as they loudly sung along with the band to some of their favourite songs.
'Love Worz' a new track recorded last Summer when the band visited a recording studio in the South of France was debuted at the beginning of the tour and introduced each night of the tour to a new audience. A brilliant song if you ask me and a great glimpse into future material from the Wets. It has a funk vibe which reminds me a little of one of their earlier tracks 'Lip Service'. So if you liked 'Lip Service' you're bound to enjoy this one!
The setlist continued with tracks such as 'Morning', 'Somewhere Somehow', 'All I Want', 'Don't Want To Forgive Me Now' and 'She's All On Mind' before coming to a mini acoustic set performed by Marti Pellow alongside Graeme Clark and Graeme Duffin on guitars. If you followed my old music blog, you might remember me writing about seeing Graeme Clark perform at An Clachan, a small café in Glasgow last June. The mini acoustic set was reminiscent of Graeme's gig so of course I was in my element as I absolutely love live acoustic sets! 'Roll 'Um Easy' was the first of three songs which lead to a story filled with banter between Marti and Graeme as they told us of filming a couple of songs for a documentary at 'Loch Lomondo' (Loch Lomond) after a night out-need I say more? It was certainly a laugh! This was followed by 'Gypsy Girl' (my Mums favourite) and a cover of John Martyn's 'May You Never'.
Next was the amazing 'Sweet Little Mystery' where everyone was asked to bring out there phones and use the new SSE app to create a colourful light show around the arena. And as Graeme rightly put it 'this is when technology fails us'-couldn't have said it better myself! So thank goodness for the flashlight on my iPod! Although, I think half of the arena shared the same problem whilst attempting to use the app-oh well! But for those of you who're interested click here to see Neil Mitchell, keyboard player of Wet Wet Wet's video filmed from the stage of the phones lighting up the arena-it's quite magical!
Anyway, 'Sweet Little Mystery' was as colourful and vibrant as it sounds on the record and had everyone up dancing. It was so cool to actually hear that one live considering that it's probably the first Wet Wet Wet song I ever heard. This was followed by 'I Can Give You Everything' and at the end of the song the band disappeared off to stage leaving it in darkness as the room grew progressively louder-gotta love a big build up!
Soon enough, the reappeared and performed 'Lip Service' which for me was one of my favourites of the night. Again, everyone was up on their feet, letting loose and really getting into the groove. I must confess that my dancing probably looked absolutely ridiculous but who cares! I was just letting everyone know that us gig goers in wheelchairs know how to have a good time! (good excuse Robyn!)
Take a wild guess as to what the final song was?! Yep, you guessed it! 'Love Is All Around' of course which was a great finale to an amazing gig! Thousands of people singing in unison whilst waving their arms in the air; where else would you experience that other than at a concert? And before the very end it was time to take the band's nightly selfie with the audience in the background. However, this time a lucky competition winner was invited up on stage to join them-so cool!
So that was that! My very first Wet Wet Wet gig! What an amazing show; an incredible band, amazing songs and such great atmosphere! I'm surprised that I can actually speak just two days later with all the singing I contributed to evening! But anyway, I had such a great evening and am already looking forward to my next Wet Wet Wet concert whenever that may be! Here's to the next tour folks!
