Massive Wagons and Scarlet Rebels
Epic Sudios, Norwich
Friday, April 17
Being on the bill beneath Massive Wagons needs a band that are not only able to support the big show-bringing juggernaut. To be up to the task they need to have their own top class stage show and set list. Scarlet Rebels don’t just support Baz and his finest men - they OPEN for them. The boys not only understood the assignment – they ran with it too. Getting the Wagons’ congregation warmed up singing and anticipation-wise, genuine banter, glossy rock bangers and little stories about how these songs came to be. Natural high opener ‘Secret Drug’ throws down the catchy classic rock. Gritty guitars and soaring vocals get stuck into ‘You Take My Breath Away’. ‘Streets Of Fire’ is like an eighties power ballad with more passion, harder rock and less hairspray. You could even get your lighters out risk free. Maybe. The crowd are moving, clapping and singing along voluntarily, coming forward and coming together - which is what this band stands for. Especially during closing ‘Let Me In’ – joined in with such joy it sees the pit transform into a choir. All this without a ‘SCREAM FOR ME MUUUUUTTTAAAAFUCKAAAHHHHS!!!!’ in sight. Tonight it’s understated rock god swagger from all four Scarlet Rebels that gets them these results.
Massive Fucking Wagons. It’s opening night of their ‘Everywhere We Go’ tour, but you just know Baz is gonna be like an aerobics instructor on acid not just for the entire run, but every time he gets on that goddamn mic past, present and future. Because Massive Wagons are gonna leave it all on stage so that their fans leave with full hearts. Tearing into the set with (what else?) ‘Everywhere We Go’, followed by ‘Fun While it Lasted’ and ‘Please Stay Calm’ causes absolutely no one to do as the former requests. It’s a trio of songs that ignite the Epic Studios into singing, swaying euphoria. ‘Fuck The Haters’ is sung back to Baz and the boys with volume and relish. Some of the lesser-played songs come out, like ‘Hero’ – with indecent amounts of pumping bass and the band in heavy metal mode. As opposed to Status Quo on steroids ‘Back to the Stack’, which is the first song of the encore, has that angle covered. It’s an absolute Wagons anthem that should be the National Anthem. Baz stands much stiller for reflective riffed, ‘Night Skies’, under lights that shine and rotate like a disco slow dance. ‘Look after yourselves, Norwich,’ he says at the end, ‘Cos those fuckers at the top don’t care’. Tonight’s set is one of heavyweight tracks, but it’s made memorable by dedicating songs like this one to the amazing men’s suicide prevention charity ANDYSMANCLUB, and ‘Ratio’ to a good friend and fan of the band. Closing on group hug of a song ‘In It Together’ is a happy goodbye – because we’re all gonna see each other again at the next Wagons show aren’t we. In a world that’s getting worse, live music is getting better – and it’s bands like Massive Wagons and Scarlet Rebels that, as well as rocking the fuck out of their fans and venues, subtly use some of their songs to speak out. When these bands are on the bill you leave your voices and your troubles behind.
Massive Wagons
