Review | The Wendy James Band at The Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea: 'Close to perfection'

The crowd at the newly upgraded Wedgewood Rooms, seemed starved of a dose of Wendy James’ special kind of speed-punk/ power-pop/ glam-pop action.

Wendy and her superb band gave everyone what they wanted and needed.

The long-time fans who have been riding this express since the days of Transvision Vamp and through here three LPs and a number of high-profile collaborations took in every note.

The newly coverted were immersed in a world of sharp lyrics, and backed by the three-guitar, ’60s keyboards riffage, not disimilar to and influenced by The Stooges and MC5.

It’s close to perfection.

Wendy James has lived the life, walked, talked and punked her way to the place she is at right now.

Songs such as You're a Dirtbomb, Lester give vent to real events from the past.

The Beautiful One is technically a paean to love, that comes from ‘down there’ – the dark and dirty places where Suede draw from at their finest.

Chicken Street is a skewed travelogue about Paris.

The songs are interspersed with great anecdotes and charm-filled banter with a responsive audience.

And of course there were crowd-busting Transvision Vamp classics, Tell That Girl, I Want Your Love, Baby I Don’t Care, to name a few.

Wendy and her band gave their all. The audience responded likewise.

A special mention and a doffing of my jester’s hat needs to go to guests – those psychedelic specialists, Portsmouth’s Paul Groovie and The Pop Art experience for their blistering paintbox garage-punk.

But Wendy James has a new convert today: me.

Join the glam-power storm.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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