Supporting are Thomas Nicholas Band, whose set brims with cheeky covers of well-known songs, including Jimmy Eat World’s ‘The Middle’ and Bowling For Soup’s ‘1985’. Nicholas connects with the audience instantly and perfectly matches the energy necessary for tonight with cool pop-punkness and an intense love for American Pie.
They last played here in 2023, and lead singer Brendan B. Brown proves he hasn’t forgotten us, jokingly bringing up the area’s shipbuilding past (“I know your history!”) and declaring that you shouldn’t confuse a Geordie for a Mackem. That said, there’s no tension in the room tonight, as football rivalry is put to one side for friendly, nerdy pop-rock.
This is also the first tour in 24 years where Philip A. Jimenez (producer and multi-instrumentalist) is back playing with the band. Jimenez played on the initial three Wheatus albums and announces that, each time the audience picks a track he didn’t originally play on, he gets to write down a revealing anecdote about Brendan B. Brown. Interesting?
As chosen, their opening track is a cover of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’, which appeared on their first album, which they’ll play in its entirety, order to be decided (saving ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ for last obviously) and they go on to play favourites ‘Leroy’, ‘Truffles’, and ‘Sunshine’, but also more niche tracks like ‘Dynamite Satchel of Pain’ and ‘Lemonade’, proving their true commitment to playing whatever people shout at them.
They haven’t released a full album since 2013’s ‘The Valentine Lp’, so this setlist is purely focused on their music between that and their 2000 debut. Wheatus use this to their advantage and decide that, if they’re going to focus on those years, they’re going to nail each track and be ready for each rogue request.
As well as their own, they throw in a cover of Green Day’s ‘Basket Case’, and even blend snippets of Bob Marley & The Wailers' ‘One Love’ and Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’. It feels like they could do justice to a whole range of songs - albeit with a 2000’s pop-punk filter over them. Brown’s impressive, and sometimes surprising, falsetto pairs immaculately with that of the band’s backup singers (Gabriele Aimee Sterbenz, Karlie Bruce, and Joey Slater) to create a full, well-rounded sound that gives fans just what they’ve wanted.
They also blend ‘I Melt With You’, originally by Modern English but later covered by Bowling For Soup, who Wheatus have toured with this year, with their own ‘Fair Weather Friend’.
Excitement is rife as people dig into the band’s lesser-known songs, only heard through in their bedroom, and with that, there’s barely room for new stuff anyway. The personalities of Brown, Jimenez, drummers Dustin Murphy and Gui Fuentes, and bassist Matthew Milligan make for entertainment too, with off-the-cuff one-liners and quick comebacks demonstrating their chemistry.
For the first time ever (they say), Wheatus became a 10-piece when they invited Newcastle violinist Charlotte Kennedy on stage. Kennedy flagged up on Wheatus’ radar after she played a string version of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ for a couple’s wedding song at Holesfoot, Cumbria, and tonight she harmoniously blends her violin into a fun, lively jam on ‘Real Girl’.
We know what the night is coming to when Brown declares, “We’re not the band who hate our hit song, that’s the other band”. But the night can’t end without Jimenez’s anecdote, as promised. He then discloses that the band has a rule which dictates no band member can sh*t in the tour bus bathroom… which once forced Brown to do his business in a bag under the stage in 2005. Not an easy mental image to be left with, truthfully.
Now, it’s really time for ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, at which point the crowd effervescently peaks to their timeless, smash hit. Brown profusely apologises for his noughties antics and leaves us not only with a memorable night to look back on, but proves that they’ll always be out here having fun as truly accomplished musicians who don’t take themselves too seriously.
Kai Palmer
Image: Matthew Morton
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