unklerupert’s knee

The Modfather took to the stage @ Wolverhampton Civic Hall last night with a stripped down band including, I was glad to see, Ocean Color Scene’s Steve Craddock.

Kicking off with ‘Peacock Suit’ we were treated to almost two hours with choons covering Wellers career from The Jam (David Cameron’s fave ‘Eton Rifles’) The Style Council (‘Shout It To The Top’) and the full range of his solo career.

Solo wise also what seemed to include the majority of ‘Stanley Road’. While we only one outing appeared from ‘Wildwood’, the title track itself given a rather more sombre, somewhat Oasis sounding flavour rather than the acoustic of the original.

If I recall correctly few tracks came of the last solo outing ‘22 Dreams’ and a further 3 new tracks were also delivered to the enthusiastic crowd including a great bunch of aging mods behind us.

As well as the great 60’s washed electric eclectic stacato tracks that Weller is well known for, we also had some great acoustic treats. The Jam’s ‘Tales of the River Bank’ for example which some chaps told us they had waited 20 years to hear live, this particular track ended with Weller and the band slipping into ‘Magic Bus’. Sadly though, no ‘That’s Entertainment’.

An amazing ‘Broken Stones’ was the highlight for me personally, probably one of Wellers best songs. We witnessed the Modfather, now 50, strut and preen like a man half his age. Seeing him live, it became very obvious where a certain Liam Gallagher got most of his moves from. Sure the face shows plenty of signs of the passing years. The enthusiam and energy seems to Still burn bright however one of Englands greatest song writers.

This was the first time we’d seen Weller. One fan told us we had been treated to one of his best ever shows (this after having seen around 50 himself), the man was on fire.

One encor and the night was topped off with a visceral ‘Whirlools End’.

Missed Weller at a larger venu last year, decided not to go at last minute as decided did not fancy the lack of intamacy the arenas represent. Glad we waited, and may now have to go to this summers open air do in Cannock Chase.

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