Welly have a hell of a lot to look forward to.
Next March will see the release of their debut album proper (there’s a live one knocking about on Spotify) entitled Big In The Suburbs, which just about sums up what they are looking to be. With a handful of jolly pop singles already out there, they are garnering quite the following, whilst preparing for very big things. They will be coming to a ‘Big in 2025’ section near you soon.
They’ve just finished the Southern section of their National Service tour, alongside some dates supporting Sports Team, and tonight sees them trekking to the freezing North. And as ever with tonight’s promoter EVOL there’s some eloquently chosen local fare that precedes them, the best of which were Permanent (Joy), the artists formerly known as Blondes.
I had dismissed their previous incarnation as being a bit too soft, even weedy, for these ears, however the new line-up is hitting that little bit harder. Singles ‘Aeroplane’ and ‘Josephine’ are a definite step-up but it’s what follows that heralds a pricking up of those aforementioned ears. There’s a Whipping Boy-esque, spoken-word, stream of consciousness track that stops the crowd dead in the tracks and is applauded wildly. They have got something special there; more of that please.
At 9:45, a (very funny, no spoilers) recorded message kicks in, and one-by-one, with their own individual introductions, the five members of Welly enter proceedings whilst hollering and dancing along to ‘Is This The Way To Amarillo’. And all the signs are there that this is going to be uniquely special as they kick straight into the forthcoming album track ‘It’s Not Like This in France’.
They appear impressed with the size of the Wednesday night crowd that has come out to see them (it’s midweek in Liverpool, so it’s not the biggest of audiences, don’t get me started again..) and they go on to tell us that they’ve only sold four tickets for Kilmarnock next week, so it could be worse.
The in-between song chat is genuinely hilarious and very much part of the selling point of Welly. Hopefully they won’t lose the joie de vivre they have currently playing these songs. The crowd are implored to join in with the starting of a lawnmower (yes, really, again it’s those pre-recordings that they use so well) for the Blur-aping single ‘Deere John.’ Singer Welly could be the son of Albarn judging by his onstage mannerisms, as well as each song being a modern Britpop vignette.
There’s some more audience participation – this time regarding mad gap year behaviour – before a barrage of singles, ‘Soak Up The Culture’, ‘Shopping’ and what would have been ‘Cul-De-Sac’ but there’s a touch of technical difficulties with those pre-recordings, so we get older track ‘Home For The Weekend‘ before they have another, this time successful, stab at it.
They end their short main set with the title track of the eagerly-awaited debut, and tonight has showcased the upcoming record perfectly It is set to be the first catchy pop album of 2025.
There’s just time for a short encore, the unfettered joy of ‘Me And Your Mates’, and they are off into the night to enjoy the nightlife delights that midweek Liverpool has to offer (they’ve already asked us for after-show pub recommendations).
Hopefully, their impending massive success will see bands become much more fun again, something that is currently lacking. With the high quality of songs to go alongside it, it’s been a while since we’ve seen something this innocently joyous.
Come on, good folk of Kilmarnock, get on the Welly train before everyone else does.
(Photo: Cheryl Doherty)
