The Wannadies

Astoria, London on Sat 3rd Jun 2000

Pär said in his recent interview with eFestivals of playing at festivals

"You could play the music on CD and stand and wave at people because they've already decided that they love it"

Maybe he's missing the point it could be that Wannadies' music is the perfect festival accompaniment it could be that their happy beings just make the audience smile even if the rain comes down

The Wannadies

The Astoria is dark and cold on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The audience have arrived hours before they need to, and instead of the usual crowd that circle the bar until they go near the stage, there's already 10-people deep crowd at the front. At the time I wonder why, but it all becomes apparent when the band play you see, the crowd knows. They know that as soon as "I Love Myself" kicks in that the cheery guitars, bouncy drum beat and plinkety piano will lift them into happy-land.

Christina smirks cheekily, dancing around her keyboard, and Pär's big cheesy grin is constantly visible through his mop of curly brown hair. The cheshire cat lives on. They're a pleasure to watch.

And the happiness continues song after song to their next release "Big Fan" to the fantastic "You and Me Song" (I can hear you falling in love just thinking about it). "Yeah", "Shorty", and "Hit" come in succession bounce bounce bounce goes the happy crowd! They end on "Crucify Me" and the cheery people boing their way out of the Astoria in pure elation. If these Swedish masters can lift that much energy in a cold dark room, let's see what happens in the fresh open air of Pilton. With the sun shining down aaaah.

It makes you wonder if Ren and Stimpy ever caught the Wannadies at a gig once, and coined the phrase "Happy Happy Joy Joy!!"

article by: Butterfly

photos by: Pete Smith

published: 04/06/2000 11:27



FUTURE GIGS


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