Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls

Le Pub Newport

A lot of things have changed since the “eight legged groove machine” triggered the dance of the mad through clubs, house parties and university halls everywhere, but thankfully Miles Hunt’s ability to write quality tunes has stood the test of time a hell of a lot better than the now withering Wonder Stuff t-shirts spotted around Le Pub at full capacity.

Gone are the buoyant locks and frilly shirts but the Miles Hunt of old is very much still I think at the top of his game. Some what selfishly for once you can thank the state of the current music scene as if it wasn’t for this we surely wouldn’t be seeing artists like Miles and Erica in such small venues up and down the country.

“Here come the fleas” brought memories of the thousands flooding into Bescot Stadium back in 91 but although tonight may be a considerably smaller show the enthusiasm and love for Miles and The Wonder Stuff on a whole is still as strong as it ever was. Miles has a definite presence of his own there’s no doubt about that but the accompaniment of Erica on fiddle gave something extra to the evening’s set. It was “Mission Drive” taken off the stuffies third studio album “Never Loved Elvis” that was to kick things off and that it did tremendously. Miles nursing a bottle of red and Erika ordering drinks from the stage made a performance and evening that will unsettle the dust on old favourites gone by, but most importantly serve as a much welcomed reminder that Miles Hunt is as confident and capable as he ever was.

Some other crowd favourites opened up the set with “Circlesquare” sounding particularly warming before Miles and Erica took us through some of the newer stuff taken off “Not an Exit” released on 30th April 2007. A chirpy sounding Miles more than happy to talk us through the evening track by track described “In Between Days” by The Cure as one of the tunes he’d call a must in any 90’s disco and it was this tune and story of Bob stood hands in the air to this back in the day that provided one of the real highlights of the set, particularly as Miles had to show Erica how it went just before diving in feet first. “Room 512” and the crowd accompanied “A Wish Away” all sounded as fresh as they did over a decade ago.

With Miles now in Jukebox mode such a back catalogue of tunes was always going to make it hard for him to leave the stage and after two attempts and a bottle of red later it was time up for Milo. A little disappointed not to hear some tunes off “Hairy On The Inside” but all in all tonight was worth so much more than the £5 price tag.

Whether you want a trip down memory lane or just appreciate music in its simplest and arguably most powerful form this will be the best fiver you’ll spend all year so if you get the chance don’t miss it.

Hats off to the both of you. 

words by Neil photography by Jay

to see more photography from the gig click here

and to find out where you can see Miles and Erica for yourselves click on the Miles Hunt logo at the top of the page.