Armed with matching black and white Gretsch Falcon acoustics, Miles Hunt arrived at The Gate on the penultimate night of his acoustic tour with two extra companions: cough sweets and a box of tissues. A tour cold might have derailed a lesser storyteller, but Hunt simply folded it into the evening’s loose, conversational charm.
The format – two sets of songs and monologues – suits the 59-year-old frontman of The Wonder Stuff, even if, as he admitted, his younger self would have hated him for it. Opening with Everything Is Not Okay and Room 512 (I’m Ready), Hunt quickly established that this was less a greatest hits run-through than a career rummage through memory and mischief. His voice remained strong throughout, despite his cold.
Maybe came with a vivid recollection of being in Monmouthshire’s Rockfield Studios circa late 1989, when Wonder Stuff bassist Rob Jones told the band he was leaving. Another story, about sharing a house with Jones and Clint Mansell – plus a vicious hamster called Iggy, inexplicably affectionate only to the vegetarian Jones – was classic Hunt: funny, affectionate, and edged with loss.
The first set balanced Stuffies favourites like the youthful exuberance of Unbearable and Ruby Horse with the more mature On The Ropes and solo-era reflection via Things Can Change. After the interval, Caught In My Shadow and Circlesquare showed how well the songs survive when stripped right back; others became communal, with the audience adding singalong guitar solos and vocals at Miles’ request.
The funniest detour concerned a flat tyre on the way to a San Francisco gig, involving Wayne Hussey of The Mission and a Bay Area character called Graham. For one of these reviewers, who first saw The Wonder Stuff supporting The Mission in Germany in their heyday, that anecdote brought back memories of the 90s.
After the country twang of Golden Green, audience requests completed the setlist, including finalé Give, Give, Give Me More, More, More – with the proviso that there would be no encore, despite the title. By then, The Gate felt less like a venue than a front room full of old friends. Hunt may have been nursing a cold, but his songs and stories were in rude health.
Miles Hunt, The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff, Fri 24 Apr
words KARL ELLIS & ALI ELLIS photos KARL ELLIS
