Shed Seven at O2 Academy Bournemouth 15.02 20
At last, Shed Seven rock up in Bournemouth – well Boscombe as we know it – for their December tour, billed as the annual Shedcember outing. A chest infection for frontman Rick Witter meant the cancellation of their December show.
This has the advantage of a less chaotic pre-Christmas itinerary (well hardly) and a bit more anticipation following the January lull. It’s a Saturday night gig: a bonus. You have to dread a rearranged Sunday or Monday night gig as much as you might a rearranged FA cup tie away mid-week. Another bonus could be the added quirkiness of a tour t-shirt with the wrong date on….little things eh (I didn’t buy one).
Bloody awful weather mind but we arrive unflustered in plenty of time, a bit unsure of whether this is one of those early starts and curfew nights. Start time information availability does vary and who wants to spend and extra two hours drinking expensive lager.
The Twang
The Twang were a ‘not to be missed’ support in my book. Not seen them before but remember the name and a bit of Spotify pre-gig revision reminded me of some of their stuff from the noughties: singles ‘Either Way’ and ‘Wide Awake’, both from the 2007 album ‘I Love it When I Feel Like This’.
I wasn’t disappointed and nor were the friends I was out with in Boscombe tonight. Any band emerging from Birmingham gets a lingering ear from me: The Twang starting off in the suburb of Quinton, a never ventured to destination on the buses I once got out of town, down Hagley Road.
They had top ten albums, and some chart singles and played their own big tours. Hats off to those bands who bite the bullet and get out there years later on a support slot.
The Twang at Glastonbury in 2007 – ‘Either Way’: https://youtu.be/JpMcD-8acTA
Shed Seven
The Sheds open with the title track of their 2017 album ‘Room in my House’, the wo-oh ooh oah song. It is a really good album.
Early on I popped forward for a bit, down the left side – the disabled area seemed to have moved, allowing easy side stage view. Further back the lighting wasn’t that helpful and I don’t like waving a camera around in the air.
Witter is in a cheery mood. He read out some tweets and messages early on, including one from someone who came over from Gibraltar specially for the cancelled gig, and returned for tonight’s gig. Big cheer.
‘She Left Me on Friday’ was one of the well know songs early on in the set: https://youtu.be/09t6MTRzmak
A good mixed set – plenty of material to choose from and a brass section to join them on a selection of songs: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/shed-seven/2020/o2-academy-bournemouth-bournemouth-england-73980659.html
Later highlights of the main set were ‘On Standby’, ‘Getting Better’ and ‘Going for Gold’ before the break – that one morphed into ‘Angel of Harlem’ at the end..just when you thought you knew it.
The Sheds don’t go for any racing through to the next song. There is a relaxed chaotic look between songs, like a time out between rounds in boxing, before re-focussing for the next.
It’s sweaty on stage and off – a top Saturday night out. Still up there with the best. Maybe they are ‘getting better all the time’. Right now I’d rather see them than a lot of Britpop bands – they’ve held on to ‘it’.
Three encores – best for last – ‘Disco Down’ and the classic ‘Chasing Rainbows’…. maybe we are, but everyone seems to be enjoying themselves in the process.
Chasing Rainbows .. one for a sing-a-long… this version in the sunshine: https://youtu.be/KMdfDzPeoI4
Previous Sheds Gigs
I couldn’t say how many times I’ve seen them but it must be approaching double figures with some festivals: good old Pheonix near Stratford, V 2001 at Chelmsford, Reading and more recently Victorious Festival 2014 in Southsea.
It was only a couple of years ago I was watching them here at the O2 Boscombe but that was email tickets – I don’t keep those. I found a few tickets going back a bit but beyond those it would be hours of research to plot a full Shed history. This is what I found, salvaged:
After a gig filled weekend it’s a new band next. About time eh. Never seen them. First album out. Get a lot of Radio 6 play.
Gigs with Ivan 