MASSIVE WAGONS, THOSE DAMN CROWS, RYDERS CREED @ QUEENS HALL, NUNEATON, 16/11/2018

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There’s a moment in each one of the sets tonight when the band concerned nails it. For local(ish) Ryder’s Creed it is precisely the second when singer Ryan (who’s birthday it is and who belongs to the Steven Tyler school of tying scarves to the mic stand) says this: “like all kinds of bands, we are struggling to succeed in this classic rock revival”. Make no mistake, it is happening. And make no mistake either, that Ryder’s Creed are absolutely desperate to be a part of it. Their debut record – released earlier in the year – had some great moments, but for half an hour tonight they show their natural home is the stage. If “On The Road” is a homage to themselves and the rock n roll they love, then “Raise The Hoof” is a homage to the good times they do this for. “My Life” is better still and by the time they get to “Rise” you just know that Ryders Creed are a band that is going to work hard for everything they get – but most importantly, perhaps, won’t take no for an answer.

Those Damn Crows haven’t spent all this time getting from South Wales to Warwickshire on a Friday night not to have a party. And crikey, they burst out of the blocks here with something close to abandon. “Don’t Give A Damn” isn’t quite their anthem (that seemingly comes later) but it is their mission statement. TDC are flying, they really are. The re-release of “The Murder And The Motive” – their debut album – has almost turned them into the hardest working overnight sensations around. Even the gentler ones like “Someone Someday” are met with something close to fervour from the packed crowd, and indeed by the time they get to “Breakaway” singer Shane, frankly isn’t needed. Never mind breaking away, this is a band set for a breakthrough, that is plain as day. They close with “Rock N Roll Is Dead” (as you suspect they will for years) and in so doing they stick a sneering middle finger up at those who decide what is cool and what is not. Those Damn Crows are on the cusp of soaring.

If Ryders Creed and Those Damn Crows are looking for pointers, then Massive Wagons are your boys. “Full Nelson” their recently released fourth record, clocked in at number 16 on the UK charts. Something of an irony, then, that one of its songs features the chorus: “they won’t play us on the radio….”

That one, “Tokyo” is played late on in their set tonight and it features hundreds of people joining frontman Baz Mills in delivering it. The inference is clear. The radio wouldn’t touch them, but they had something better, they’d worked hard at a fanbase.

And that makes MW a pleasing throwback in many ways, a slow burner, who deserves their rewards, but there is another reason they are a throwback too. Calling Mills a “frontman” is apt, but it’s rather better to call him an energetic force of nature. There are not many like him left.

All of this would be nothing without great songs, and Massive Wagons have them in abundance. The charged up opener “Back To The Stack” sets the tone and there is no letting up. “Billy Balloon Head” is all hook and chorus, “Nails” is a more visceral thing, “Hate Me” is a simple message – but no one really could.

The longer headline nature of the set gives them the chance to play the heartfelt “Northern Boy” for the first time and also to dip back to earlier work – the massive sounding “Red Dress” from a couple of albums back proves this wave they’re riding is no fluke.

“Under No Illusion” is the sound of a band who keep their feet on the ground, “China Plates” is a glorious takedown of social media, while “Fee Fi Fo Fum” is always their closer and so it is here too.

“Who says rock n roll is dead?” as Those Damn Crows sing is the obvious place to end this review – but they also rhyme “roller coaster” with “supposed to” in “Behind These Walls” which in my book is genius. The fact is no one with a brain thinks rock n roll is dead. Just as no one who saw this show can for one second imagine that there is a couple of bands here – and maybe three –  who could be about to get pretty famous.

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