Live Review; The Wildhearts, Terrorvision and Dodgy at Digbeth Arena

The Britrock Must be Destroyed Tour rolls into Birmingham with a near capacity crowd ready to lap up the blue skies, beer and bands. Dodgy ease everyone in gently with a set of Radio friendly summertime hits, whereas Terrovision’s sixty minutes fly by in whirl or sing-a-longs high kicks and truly infectious Top Of The Pops choruses. ‘Discotheque Wreck’, ‘Alice What’s The Matter’ and early single ‘My House’ all test the slender (and now fifty years old!) Tony Wright’s lung capacity and the crowd’s lyrical memory. It’s a high energy Pop-Rock Metal masterclass as ‘Perseverance’, ‘Pretend Best Friend’ and a stunning ‘Oblivion’ leave a breathless Brummie mess grinning from ear to ear. Smiles are widened even further by the arrival of the recently reformed Wildhearts classic line up who muster an almost perfect power-punch performance. The band kick off with a trio of timeless bangers ‘I Wanna Go Where The People Go’, ‘TV Tan’ and ‘Suckerpunch’ all nostalgically reverberate around the wonderfully eclectic outdoor arena. ‘Nita Nitro’ and ‘Vanilla Radio’ are both devoured before the anthemic ‘Everlone’ reminds everyone that this is a band who deserve their seat at Rock’s top table. The electric set is completed with ‘Weekend’, ‘29 x The Pain’ and a booming ‘Sick Of Drugs’. Finally the glorious ‘Love U Til I Don’t’ sends the beaming band stage left to rapturous sun-drenched applause and of course the Wildies faithful singing ‘Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me’.