The Moles Club, Bath
On the 1st April Wayne Hussey on The Mission’s official website announced that there was going to be at a gig at the Moles Club in Bath featuring his favourite new up and coming band “Blood Brothers”. This caused a stir amongst all the faithful Mission fans as some thought it was just an “April fool” and others thought that it was true, dutifully heading over to the Moles Club website to purchase the precious £8.00 tickets.
As it happens The Mission’s UK rehearsal space is close to Bath and the band were booked to head out to South America for a tour, so the Moles Club was ideally located for a crafty intimate warm up show. The Moles club for anyone who has not been is situated in a basement of an old building accessed by a steep tight staircase with a small stage with a capacity of just under 200 people, everyone the moment the band arrived just knew that tonight was going to be something really special. “Blood Brothers” aka The Mission arrived on stage at exactly 9pm with Wayne remarking “I bet you didn’t expect to see us tonight”……..
The band comprising of three of the original line up including Wayne Hussey (Guitar/Vocals), Simon Hinkler (Guitar), Craig Adams (Bass) and relatively new drummer Mike Kelly from Spear Of Destiny/Theatre Of Hate kicked of the show with a “Beatles” cover that they have played many times before “Tomorrow Never Know”, Craig’s thundering bass line intro ripping through the place heralding the start of a one hell of a great night. The bands recent rehearsals seemed to have been very fruitful, as they were sounding as good as ever, with Wayne and Simon’s beautiful guitar work just giving each song great dimension. The atmosphere was just one of sheer excitement with all the excited fans singing along with every word that came from Wayne’s lips, with songs like “Into The Blue”, “Wasteland” and “Bloodbrothers” thrilling every member of the audience. It is hard to believe as you look around tonight that in a few short month’s The Mission will be gracing the stage at the Donnington, Download Festival and also playing Sold Out Arena shows with The Cult in December.
The band did seem a little crowded up on the small stage, but all took it in their stride with a great sense of fun, that has continued with them through the all the years. Craig even bought a bit of comedy to the occasion with a cheeky joke in between songs “My mate texted me saying he was in hospital saying the Dyson ball cleaner was not what he thought it was”. The encores soon came around and of course the audience demanded the band back for more, even though they were so close to the stage you could see the set list stated there was certainly more to come. Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” got a first time play through for the band, Wayne was so unsure of the words he got some fans at the front to hold up lyric sheets just to make sure he made no errors. The band’s 16 song set ended with “Tower Of Strength” and as usual with the audience they climb on each other shoulders to build human towers, only tonight the ceilings were far too low to go even three high. The band left the stage with masses of appreciation from an audience who probably will not forget this special evening for a very long time to come.
Set List
Tomorrow Never Knows
And The Dance Goes On
Over The Hills And Far Away
Naked And Savage
Garden Of Delight
Into The Blue
Butterfly On A Wheel
The Grip Of Disease
Sacrilege
Wasteland(Inc Never Walk Alone)
Blood Brother
Deliverance
Like A Child Again (Wayne Solo)
Like A Hurricane
All Along The Watchtower
Tower Of Strength
Videos
Link
http://www.themissionuk.co.uk/
Review Pictures & Videos by Dave Chinery (Chinners).
