Gut Reactions (post-gig memories and other trips): Massive Wagons, "Triggered" UK Tour 2023, La Belle Angele, Edinburgh. Tuesday 25th April, 2023

Tour blurb (edited)

Following on from the tremendous success of their co-headline tour with Ugly Kid Joe, rabble-rousing road dogs MASSIVE WAGONS have announced a new 10-date headline tour of the UK in April 2023, in support of their rifftastic new album ‘Triggered!‘ which crashed straight into the UK official album chart at #6 upon release, marking the second Top 10 album for the Lancaster band.

Frontman Barry “Baz” Mills declares, “Straight back at it, it’s what we do innit! If you came out to see us with Ugly Kid Joe and you enjoyed the experience then why not come and see us again on the ‘TRIGGERED’ headline tour! Loved playing tracks from the new album, gonna shake it up with some more new one's cos they have been really fun to play… hopefully, we are hitting up a town somewhere near you, grab a ticket and come join the fun!”

'Triggered' was one of my favourite albums of last year so when I heard the band were touring I looked up the dates and discovered their only Scottish gig was in Edinburgh. I hummed and hawed. Was it worth the journey through? The album is really good. What the hell, let's do this. It'll be a little adventure. I booked the time off work and bought the tickets.

I'd never been to La Belle Angele before. It's a small club down a back alley in the Cowgate. We migrated to a round, white, high table in the middle of the dancefloor happy to have a clear view of the stage.

The Virginmarys came on at 7.20 pm. The duo play loud rock akin to Royal Blood or Slaves. And they were loud. I could feel the bass drum vibrations through my pint tumbler and when the lead singer scream-growled out the lyrics, my ears hurt like the sound was trying to scour out my earwax. Not a pleasant feeling but I still enjoyed what they played. It had a raw rockiness that appealed.

Before the main act, two giants pushed into the space on the opposite side of our table between us and the stage, two pints each in hand. There was no politeness in the way they invaded the space. The couple who had been standing there were elbowed out of the way so the ogres could put down their pints.

The table proved a mixed blessing. Now the venue was packed, it attracted punters like the shipwrecked to a desert island, unaware the gap in the crowd was due to a table. Once they arrived, there was nowhere else for them to go so the surroundings became more and more cramped, bodies constantly bumping into one another. There wasn't even space to raise an arm to salute the band.

Massive Wagons came on at 8.30 pm and played for an hour and a half, missing out some of their bigger hits in favour of some oldies, plus a trio of cover songs that expressed the variety of their influences (see the setlist below).

The lead singer, Baz, is charismatic, like a Lancastrian Noddy Holder, complete with porkpie hat and massive sideburns, only with a long, dark mane that stretches down his back. I'd read that he recently had vocal problems but there was little evidence of it tonight. The stage wasn't that big but he still managed to twirl his mic stand and pace about the stage like a rapper. I couldn't see much of the rest of the band because of the ogres, especially when they leaned closer together to chat, which they did a lot.

I wouldn't have been so annoyed at them - they had to stand somewhere - except when the one in the Sticky T-shirt returned from the toilet, he manhandled a small chap who'd migrated into his space, physically grabbing him by the shoulder and forcing him aside. The chap had to spend the rest of the gig with his view blocked. This spoiled the gig for me. The venue should really keep a separate area for thugs like this - Kunt Korner - somewhere near the bar and the toilet but away from the rest of us. Call the thugs VIPs but don't tell them the P stands for Prick.

With my view obscured, I just had to listen to the music. When they played Generation Prime, I found myself taken over by the track. My head and body started rockin, like I would have done in my youth. Then I felt the nudge of two folded arms in my back as the punter behind protected himself from my gyrations. A sombre reflection of a sad situation, having done that myself many times at previous gigs. I just wasn't allowed to enjoy myself.

Oh well, can't have everything. Where would you put it?

I would go back and see Massive Wagons again but only in a bigger venue. I'm getting too old for this cramped club shite.

Ticket Price: £22.50 inc fees.

Setlist

Gone Are the Days

Triggered

Never Been a Problem

A.S.S.H.O.L.E.

Sawdust

Buck

Hallescrewya

Fuck the Haters