Massive Wagons – O2 Ritz, Manchester: Live Review

By Mike Ainscoe on 1st December 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

Massive Wagons, Florence Black, Cam Cole – O2 Ritz, Manchester – Friday 29th November 2024

Gladiators ready!? Heads down for an overdose of adrenaline fueled Rawk and Roll by some of the best in the business. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, you want the best you got the best. Kiss has retired, so step forward….

…massive wagons

The ‘Sold Out’ notices on the box office (and the O2 Ritz website) are a gratifying sign. An indication that Massive Wagons have truly arrived? Certainly a sign of their upwardly mobile trajectory since the last couple of visits to Manchester. With Earth To Grace – their best album yet, no question mark needed – in their pockets, the hardest working band in the business is ready for what we guess is their first return to the O2 Ritz since January 2017 when they played here with The Wildhearts.

With their partisan crowd thoroughly revved up by wise support choices, Cheap Trick’s Hello There intro tape signals a mighty roar, a dash from the wings and the fabulous five hit the ground running. A clutch of new songs are in the set, not least Missing On TV, an early single release that ensures the well up for it crowd is fully primed for the “We are washed AWAAAAYYY!” chorus. The energy on stage is palpable as Alex and Bowz lock into their rhythms whilst the Baz, Alex and Stevie do shuttles across the stage lip and onto the ego platforms.

Some minor setlist tweaking – we’ve been monitoring setlistfm for spoilers – see the guitar trio lining up for a headbanging pose, heading down down deeper into a riotous Back To The Stack. A brilliant opening; the tone and the pace set, rarely letting up and even surpassing the thrill of the opening flurry.

The ladies win the battle of the sexes, by a long chalk, in the singalong part of A.S.S.H.O.L.E. and if there’s any doubt about staying power, Sleep Forever squashes any questions. The new album opener, that also provides a backprint slogan for one t shirt design on the merch stand, sees the Wagons thrashing like there’s no tomorrow. A new song that along with The Good Die Young (“we will die on this hill” made for a boisterous fist pumping singaround) fits seamlessly into the set alongside the irresistible chorus in Fun While It Lasted. However, of the new songs, it’s perhaps the most untypical Night Skies that’s emerged as the long stayer and most impactful in the set.

We likened Night Skies to Def Leppard charm, packed with melody and sweet guitar lines yet with a deeply insightful lyric that burns with an innate sensitivity amidst the bluster of the A.S.S.H.O.L.E’s and Banging In Your Stereos in the set. A subject matter that’s close to the Wagon’s hearts, their support for causes such as Andy’s Man Club whose presence on the tour sees their reps proudly present their cause as we enter The Ritz and in a PSA that’s greeted with the sort of support from a crowd buying into their band’s commitment.

The messages and support is great, but the emphasis though is on good old fashioned fun. Baz is in the crowd, not so much breaking as demolishing the fourth wall, the fear induced by the rabbit mask and his knee socks enough to ward off any potential dangers on t’other side of the barrier. Whether it comes in getting a buzz from the music or the philosophy of supporting health related causes, the message that we’re in it together is hammered home – yes, the song says it all. The message is reinforced in an encore as we’re bid goodnight with a ten minute topit-off trio of Free And Easy, Ratio and House of Noise. The sense of community and camaraderie that surrounds Massive Wagons and fills the O2 Ritz makes a capacity crowd proud to be a part of.

florence black

Wow. That was noisy! The band or the crowd? Probably both. Good to hear Florence Black (form South Wales don’cha know) getting the sort of response we used to give Massive Wagons themselves when they were out supporting Thunder, Lynyrd Skynyrd or The Darkness.

The trio declare intent, bucking their way through the likes of Start Again with the sort of swagger you’d associate with the big guns in the genre. There’s an instant appeal for anyone new to the band yet cloaked in a ominous heaviness. Bed Of Nails stands out mid set with the shift to a more deliberate pace pushing the song into a daunting direction with the earworm lyric of “we can blow the world away” heralding a darker riff and harsh vocal. Paired with Rocking Ring from Bed Of Nails album, there’s evidence in that ten minute rush alone that warrant Florence Black as a band worthy of deeper investigation.

cam cole

Whether he’s opening for Massive Wagons in a sold out O2 venue or busking the streets, Cam Cole is hard to ignore. He’s a raucous one man band (…with his buddy on a small side drum) with no loops or gimmicks, just a guitar (or two) with an action high enough to limbo under. Plus a contraption that owes much to Heath Robinson as his feet work overtime in accompanying himself with whatever his legs are willing to pump and push out.

His half hour of a mash up of Folk, Delta Blues, Grunge, and Psychedelic Rock ‘n’ Roll is thoroughly entertaining and oes the job of (a) warming up and getting the Wagons crowd in the mood and (b) furthering his own case as ‘one to watch’ or visit the merch desk to see what’s he has on the table. As one of his songs says, it’s real New Age Blues, but he’s not averse to pulling out something electric and delivering a hefty dose of Rock and Roll thunder with a tribal, nay primal beat to serve the swell of distorted guitar. Back to the roots with a vengeance.