It had been a while coming; Ewan had bought the tickets back in June. And after a Christmas works do on Friday night, travelling from Worthing to Wolverhampton felt like an odyssey. But here we were, in Wolverhampton, about to see PWEI at a relatively small venue. We’d had a beer or two in The Giffard Arms, which had been described to me as “a rock pub”, and it certainly fitted the description. There was a lot of black and leather going on, as well as a ceremonial throne which Ewan tried to get a picture of unsuccessfully. Not only were there lots of musicheads about, but Wolves had beaten Bournemouth 2-0 so the town was full of celebrants.
Once we’d girded our loins sufficiently, we headed to the Slade Rooms with our dancing shoes on. Beers were £2.50 each, which was lovely, and of course the first stop was to review the merchandise. PWEI always do a good t-shirt, and they hadn’t let us down in Wolves. I picked up a nice purple number, which started off being too small for me, so I had to exchange it. I think they’d given me a girl’s medium by mistake! But issue resolved, we watched a bit of the support, Cut La Roc, as he DJed a host of big beat “choonz”. He was good, but it was clear that the crowd were waiting for the Poppies to take the stage. We were right down the front, and I was considering moving to the back. But we were chatting, and time got away from us.
All of a sudden, PWEI were on the stage and tearing through “Ich bin ein Auslander”, and I was pressed up against the barrier, with people pushing and shoving behind me. It was too much for me, and when I got the chance I headed to the back. The first song hadn’t even finished, but I was already pumped full of adrenaline. The Poppies have been going for a while, and this latest incarnation certainly know how to get the crowd going. The songs they choose to play from their extensive back catalogue all have pace and verve. They actually played quite a few from Dos Dedos, which I don’t have, so I shall have to keep an eye out for that. They obviously covered all the favourites – “Def Con One”, “Preaching to the Perverted”, “Wise Up Sucker!”, “Dance of the Mad” – and it got to the point where I didn’t know what they had left to perform during the encore. But they didn’t let us down, they had kept “Not Now James, We’re Busy” and “PWEIsation”. They also performed a tribute to Pete Shelley, which didn’t go quite to plan but was certainly heartfelt. And then, they were gone, and it was time to get a nightcap and then hit the hay. Since we are now in our late forties, Ewan retired with a cup of herbal tea, and we enjoyed the hospitality of the Wolverhampton Premier Inn.
Today we took things easy, and had a good hearty fry-up before another epic journey to get home, but I had slept okay and didn’t overdo the lagers last night, so I’ve been feeling okay. Ewan and I have agreed that we’ll have to find another gig to go to in November / early December next year, and so that is a plan. And if it is half as good as the Poppies were last night, that’ll be a gig worth going to...
TTFN.
