Wagons, No Through Road @ TheWheatsheaf, Adelaide(10/07/09)

Mon 13th Jul, 2009 in Gig Reviews

The Wheatsheaf (or The Wheatie as it’s more widely known) is Adelaide’s best and most laid back suburban pub for enjoying good sounds. With the rain uncharacteristically falling on this tin shed / beer garden, the sold-out crowd were kept warm by more than just the fully cranked gas heaters.

Adelaide’s own No Through Road have been impressing their audiences for some time now with their tight, happy sounds and familiar rhythms. Any less-than-famous band with the gumption to name an album Winner deserves a listen, if not a bit of respect.

After enjoying their support act and a few Moo-Brews, Wagons meandered nonchalantly onto the stage. They are, in their own words, a melodramatic pop / rock / tango band travelling around the country on The Goodtown Roadshow tour. With their very charismatic and highly hilarious frontman, Henry Wagons, their sound could be better described as alt-country with a timeless and irreverent twist. With the look of an ageing hippy, this young lead singer was very much at home on stage and not afraid to pick fights with audience members, attempt to pick up someone else’s girl (for one of his bandmates), drop the C-word and even indulge in some chat about fisting. The inappropriate humour went over well, but the audience seemed to enjoy the dark and brooding tunes even more. It was, first and foremost, a rollickin’ good time with no slow songs, plenty of dancing and a fantastic Willie Nelson tribute sing-a-long. The band members impressed with their abilities to switch instruments. In fact, they were having such a good time that they hit a local karaoke bar afterwards to blast out some more noise. Henry has been blessed with a voice that seems to resonate all the way from hell itself. It’s possible that this man could be the devil in disguise, sent here to trick us into thinking that what he was saying and singing is socially acceptable and we should all follow him blindly into the abyss. It seemed that many there last Friday night would have been willing to go along with (almost) anything he’d suggest and one would surely hope that it would be regretted afterwards, assuming, of course, it was possible to live to tell the tale.

A night with Wagons is highly recommended for anyone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously and is looking for a rollickin’ good time. Their album, The Rise And Fall Of Goodtown, is out now and they are travelling up the East coast over the next few months. Henry is also appearing at The Grace Emily in early October on his own and look out for his appearance on RocKwiz in the coming weeks. Check – œem out!