Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart, live in Wimborne, Dorset (2.4.2026).
My previous Jah Wobble experience is limited to a gig in Exeter, in 2021, blogged here. My Wobble knowledge is quite shallow – incidental listening – I never did bury myself in Metal Box, in dub or out of it for that matter – but he’s here playing quite local so I go again, such is his stature in the history of post punk rock.
A few beers in ‘Spoons’ over the road before and it’s in for the 7.30pm start time. More on the venue in my Venue Blog here. Here tonight with old school and SW London suburbs mate Graham….in the front row with room to stretch out tonight’s ailing knee. (The pain goes on. I am getting somewhere though, stumbling on an unwelcome diagnosis on the way…but we rock on!)
No support tonight. The lady usherette on the door is quite clear: 90 minutes and no support and straight through with no breaks. Functional eh?
At 7.40pm the three band members come on – keyboardist, guitarist and drummer, quickly followed by Jah Wobble (JW), our bass maestro, with his added percussion input and vocals.
JW opens the set as if priming the room for a rehearsal or jam session, quickly outlining what he wants from his highly proficient musical colleagues. He comes over as a hesitant genius. The band know exactly what he wants and just look up briefly for mutual reassurance, and for the final nod to count them in.
This is a great front row opportunity – I feel totally absorbed in the performance and with of all the band. It is the same band members as were with JW in Exeter a few years back.
Unfortunately no permission for camera or phone use tonight – hey ho, it’s relaxed. The theatre is only about a third full with everyone all seated throughout – until the last goodbye anyway. Perhaps I should start doing some of those court room sketch style images at such times.
JW is wearing a latex string-plucking glove on one hand. Can’t say I’ve noticed similar before. While we’re on garments, with my knee trouble, I can’t help but admire and respect that JW is wearing slip-on Sketchers’ trainers – excellent – I can buy some and reference this muso legend’s pair should I be challenged by any passing fashion police. These are offset by some quite industrial looking trousers from the health and safety catalogue… and I can see his pants as the trousers sag below the unremarkable t-shirt. Hey buddy I’m feeling one of the gang here – I am on trend after all.
The set includes two versions of Public Image, one a more echoey and in dub version, at the end of the set. There is a long version of Visions of You, widely appreciated and a better known track from his material.
The surprising cover of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain proved a worthwhile reworking and the cover of The Liquidator (Harry J Allstars) was another work of audio art.
The bass playing is perhaps obviously mesmerising throughout. Being supported by the distinct keyboards and guitar means all the component sounds are so clear and the light touch vocals become almost incidental.
This is intense. It is like being in a jam session, with discipline – JW looks like he needs and craves such discipline. Quite different to a lot of air punching and singalong gigs I go to. Everyone seems to be lapping it up without any undue dramatics.
Jah Wobble fans will know what to expect. Would I recommend for others? You need an open mind and to be able to readily absorb the sounds. I enjoyed this even more than the last time but I can see it may not be for everyone.
Being sat right in front of this musical play was a welcome experience.
Gigs with Ivan 