THE VASELINES (DUO SHOW) + WENDY & SIMON (THE POPGUNS) – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 24.3.24
The Vaselines originally formed in Glasgow in 1986 as a duo of songwriters Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, but later added James Seenan and Eugene’s brother Charlie Kelly on bass and drums respectively from the band Secession. After playing their first gigs, they signed to the 53rd and 3rd label and recorded the ‘Son Of A Gun’ EP which was released in summer 1987. The EP featured a cover of Divine’s ‘You Think You’re A Man’ on its B-side, and the follow up ‘Dying For It’ EP dropped in early 1988. It featured the songs ‘Molly’s Lips’ and ‘Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam’, both of which Nirvana covered on their ‘Incesticide’ album and ‘Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam’ was also covered on MTV Unplugged in New York. This gained The Vaselines a new audience and resulted in 1992, Sub Pop released ‘The Way Of The Vaselines: A Complete History’, a compilation that contained The Vaselines’ entire body of work at the time.
In the summer of 2006, McKee and Kelly took to the stage together for the first time since 1990 to perform a set of Vaselines songs, as part of a joint tour to promote their individual solo albums. The Vaselines then reformed (minus the old rhythm section) in 2008. The band’s second studio album, ‘Sex With An X’, was released in September 2010 and their third, ‘V For Vaselines’, followed in June 2014. For this the band played live in Brighton at The Haunt on 16th November 2014 and I suspect that this was the last time that they played live in Brighton. However that is until this evening’s concert at The Hope & Ruin with this being one of a quartet of duo performances from Eugene and Frances, the others hitting Durham, London date and Leicester. A couple of months ago the full lineup played ‘Rockaway Beach’ at Butlin’s Bognor Regis and you can read our full report HERE.
This evening we are to receive no less than 22 songs which ran from 8:19pm until 9:35pm. This 76 minute set featured material that was released between 1989 and 2014 and witnessed Frances on vocals and electric guitar with Eugene on vocals and acoustic guitar. It was a simple “Hello we’re The Vaselines” and away they went with opener ‘High Tide Low Tide’ which is found on 2014’s ‘V For Vaselines’ album. At this juncture the room was totally packed and the clientele was a mixed age bunch. Before the second track ‘Sex With An X’ we were asked who is from Brighton and who is not from Brighton. Amazingly a large majority of those attendees are not local, which gives me an inkling that quite a few might be following them around the country.
With Eugene having sang lead vocals on the first two tunes it was over to Frances for ‘The Lonely L.P.’, after which they delivered the livelier and louder ‘The Day I Was A Horse’ from their debut ‘Dum-Dum’ album from 1989. However, these were all bettered by selection five, ‘I Hate The 80’s’. The bouncy ‘Oliver Twisted’ was up next and after this song’s conclusion Eugene got out his harmonica which he wore around his neck via a metal holder whilst he strummed away to the slower ‘Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam’. ‘Cardinal Sin’ came next and Eugene was still on the harmonica. It was here that it dawned on me that Frances’ vocals reminded me of those of Helen McCookerybook. After ‘Slushy’ we had crowd favourite ‘Molly’s Lips’ for which many sang along to. The repeated “And I can’t give it up; And I can’t give it up” lyrics of ‘No Hope’ certainly made this one also easy to sing along to.
Reaching the halfway point it was time for them to play ‘Crazy Lady’ with its REM ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’ vibe going down. The next track was ‘Ruined’ (that’s its title, not what happened by the way), this being more upbeat that its predecessor. The mouth organ (harmonica) was called into operation again for ‘The Devil’s Inside Me’, which saw Eugene’s vocal sounding different to all of his other deliveries, this being the use of an American twang. The singalong friendly ‘Such A Fool’ was the duo’s next song of choice. ‘Dying For It’ with its catchy “Ah I’m hanging out; I’m hanging out baby, I’m hanging out” lyrics was an easy listen. Interestingly, the following number ‘Mouth To Mouth’ was listed and introduced under its original title of ‘Kissing With A K’, and lo and behold a couple in the front row dutifully had a snog! After ‘One Lost’ Year’ we had set highlight, the boppy ‘Son Of A Gun’, which we were told was the very first tune they ever wrote. And that was it, that was everything listed on their setlists, but they knowing punters knew there was more to come…..
They signed off with a trio of tunes, with the first two being cover versions, the first of these was Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood’s ‘Summer Wine’, which was followed by the more obscure The Dutchess and the Duke track ‘Scorpio’. Between these songs Frances admits that they “didn’t write that song and didn’t write the next one either”. They signed off with ‘Rory Rides Me Raw’ which Frances tells us that they wrote it fourteen years ago, but this can’t be correct as it was released on 1992’s ‘The Way Of The Vaselines – A Complete History’ compilation album. Maybe that was gin in one of her flasks! And that my friends was it, performance over, with my only regret being that it’s not the full lineup here with us tonight.
The Vaselines:
Eugene Kelly – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
Frances McKee – vocals, electric guitar
The Vaselines setlist:
‘High Tide Low Tide’ (from 2014 ‘V For Vaselines’ album)
‘Sex With An X’ (from 2010 ‘Sex With An X’ album)
‘The Lonely L.P.’ (from 2014 ‘V For Vaselines’ album)
‘The Day I Was A Horse’ (from 1989 ‘Dum-Dum’ album)
‘I Hate The 80’s’ (from 2010 ‘Sex With An X’ album)
‘Oliver Twisted’ (from 1989 ‘Dum-Dum’ album)
‘Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam’ (from 1992 ‘The Way Of The Vaselines – A Complete History’ compilation album)
‘Cardinal Sin’ (from 2014 ‘Hide Tide Low Tide’ single)
‘Slushy’ (from 1989 ‘Dum-Dum’ album)
‘Molly’s Lips’ (from 1992 ‘The Way Of The Vaselines – A Complete History’ compilation album)
‘No Hope’ (from 1989 ‘Dum-Dum’ album)
‘Crazy Lady’ (from 2014 ‘V For Vaselines’ album)
‘Ruined’ (from 2010 ‘Sex With An X’ album)
‘The Devil’s Inside Me’ (from 2010 ‘Sex With An X’ album)
‘Such A Fool’ (from 2010 ‘Sex With An X’ album)
‘Dying For It’ (from 1992 ‘The Way Of The Vaselines – A Complete History’ compilation album)
‘Mouth To Mouth’ (from 2010 ‘Sex With An X’ album) (listed under original ‘Kissing With A K’ title on setlist)
‘One Lost Year’ (from 2014 ‘V For Vaselines’ album)
‘Son Of A Gun’ (from 1992 ‘The Way Of The Vaselines – A Complete History’ compilation album)
(encore)
‘Summer Wine’ (Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood cover)
‘Scorpio’ (The Dutchess and the Duke cover)
‘Rory Rides Me Raw’ (from 1992 ‘The Way Of The Vaselines – A Complete History’ compilation album)
Support this evening came in the form of two-fifths of The Popguns, namely Wendy Morgan (vocals) and Simon Pickles (acoustic guitar), who originally formed the band in Brighton back in 1986. That lineup featured both Wendy and Simon as well as Greg Dixon and Pat Walkington. Two years later witnessed the addition of Shaun Charman, who was the former drummer for The Wedding Present. The 1989 and 1990 period signalled a breakthrough for the band with debut single ‘Landslide’ being voted No.46 in 1989’s John Peel’s Festive Fifty, and in 1990 they then recorded two John Peel Sessions, the first of which was broadcast on 23rd January and featured ‘Someone You Love’, ‘Bye Bye Baby’, ‘Put Me Thru It’ and ‘Where Do You Go’, their second was broadcast on 30th October and featured ‘Going Under’, ‘I’m Spoiling Everything’, ‘Those Other Things’ and ‘A World Away (It’s Grim Up North)’.
A trio of long players came in the form of ‘Eugenie’ (1990), ‘Snog’ (1991), and ‘Love Junky’ (1995) and then The Popguns called it a day in 1996. But by 2012 they were back on the case and then released ‘Pop Fiction’ (2014) and ‘Sugar Kisses’ (2017). The current lineup as far as I can tell still consists of Simon Pickles, Wendy Pickles, Greg Dixon and Pat Walkington along with new drummer Ken Brotherston, although as mentioned above, it’s only Wendy and Simon with us tonight. I’ve no idea why it’s just the duo and not the full house, especially as it appears that all five of them are due to play The Joiners in Southampton next month – Tickets HERE.
The duo take to The Hope & Ruin stage at 7:30pm on the dot and deliver a range of nine Popguns numbers from between 1990 and 2023. The set lasts 31 minutes until 8:01pm. The sound is crisp and the lighting all night is rather boringly static, but I guess the performances don’t exactly lend themselves to epileptic strobes and lasers. Despite being sold out this evening, the first floor room was only half full at the start of their performance, but after the opening two numbers ‘Leaning On The Backline’ and ‘Every Dream’, they were awarded a hearty applause. ‘Caesar’ was up next and was the first of two tunes from the band’s latest release 2023’s ‘POPISM’ EP, the other being the penultimate tune ‘Red Cocoon’. Wendy informed us that they were going to play ‘BN23’ a tune which they haven’t played live for quite some time and that it can be found on their ‘Still Waiting For The Winter’ EP, but for me this was bettered by ‘So Long’ from 2017’s ‘Sugar Kisses’ album. However, having said that, I have the distinct feeling that this duo singing and strumming set could feasibly be heard in many country pubs located in small hamlets throughout the land. For me it was all very samey, and I wished that it had been the full band playing for us tonight.
Wendy & Simon:
Wendy Morgan – vocals
Simon Pickles – acoustic guitar
Wendy & Simon setlist:
‘Leaning On The Backline’ (from 2014 ‘Pop Fiction’ album)
‘Every Dream’ (from 1990 ‘Eugenie’ album)
‘Caesar’ (from 2023 ‘POPISM’ EP)
‘Still A World Away’ (from 1991 ‘SNOG’ album)
‘BN3’ (from 2015 ‘Still Waiting For The Winter’ EP)
‘So Long’ (from 2017 ‘Sugar Kisses’ album)
‘Bye Bye Baby’ (from 1991 ‘SNOG’ album)
‘Red Cocoon’ (from 2023 ‘POPISM’ EP)
‘Waiting For The Winter’ (from 1990 ‘Eugenie’ album)
