I’ve not been getting my usual Wagons fix recently, so when the opportunity came up to pop along to their first “breakin outta the studio” tour date, I jumped at it. After all, who doesn’t want to drive down the M56 in a storm so bad it’s got a name, just to see them? Well, me actually. So I brought the Grumpy Husband along to do that bit.

We start the night with local band Mad Haven. They’ve been around and on my radar for a few years now, but I kind of dismissed them as they were so young. They’ve been playing together since they were at school, and still don’t look like it’s that long since they left actually. So the sound was a pleasant surprise, it’s a sort of melodic classic rock vibe and I liked it a lot. They are decent musicians considering thy are barely out of nappies! The songs are well-crafted catchy, hummable. There’s some decent harmony vocals and they get a warm response from the packed crowd. There was a song that I think was called ‘Are You Ready?’ that particularly stood out to me, I was very impressed. These guys have plenty of time to mature and knock off some of their (admittedly very few) rough edges, and if they can keep up the quality of the music that they have shown so far, I think they’ll have a bright future.

Anchor Lane have also been around for a while, are also very young, and also very good. Hailing from Scotland they are a bit harder, a bit heavier, maybe a bit more grown-up. They have great energy and great crowd rapport. I have seen them before and saw a notable improvement since last time, whereas one of my friends was watching them for the first time and was totally blown away by them. Their music is at the accessible end of blues rock, and their song ‘Fame Shame’, which is the single from their recently-released album “Casino”, had a touch of the Foo Fighters about it and sounded so good that I went and bought the album. Theirs is the sort of blues where your dog is ill but then goes to the vet and gets better rather than dying, and I like it.

Massive Wagons are, as the tour title suggests, fresh out of the studio at the moment. They have been working on a new album that will be released later in the year and tonight we get a handful of taster tracks as well as some old favourites. They start with the Yeah-eh chorus of ‘Nails’ and move swiftly on to their tribute to Rick Parfitt ‘Back To The Stack’. The first new song is up next, a track called ‘Banging On Your Stereo’ and it’s a typical Wagons romp. High-energy, catchy and bouncy it doesn’t take long for singer Baz to be crowdsurfing across the room. I lose track of the setlist at this point (although there is a photo in the gallery for you purists) because I found myself bouncing along to the music and just enjoying the moment.

If I was searching for a word to describe this Massive Wagons gig I think it would definitely be “fun”. From Baz missing his (new) hatstand with his now-trademark bowler, to Adam’s manic gurning when soloing, via Bowz’z implacable stance belied by his twinkly eyes, Alex’s insistent timekeeping and Stephen’s constant blur of movement this band epitomise a good time. Standout tracks for me were ‘Shit Sweat Death’ (although it’s better when Lauren The Rock Fairy is around to do the extra vocals). The acoustic goodness and plaintive vocals of ‘Northern Boy’ and the effervescent ‘Red Dress’, but looking around me I think everybody had their own favourite song and showed their appreciation of it most enthusiastically.

It was good to see second encore song ‘Ratio’ dedicated to upcoming tour mates Those Damn Crows, good to finish the show entirely on ‘Fee Fi Fo Fum’ and great to see all 3 bands then come out to chat, sign stuff and take photos. Wagons are really going places at the moment, as an almost-full Tivoli can testify, and wherever they end up it’s going to be a great ride!