Hayseed Dixie, The Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton - review
Drinkin’, cheatin’, killin’ and hell - those were things on offer on Sunday night when Hayseed Dixie headlined Wolverhampton’s Slade Rooms.
Celebrating the release of their fifteenth album - you read that correctly - hillbilly rock band Hayseed Dixie brought their hilarious live show to Wolverhampton with support from Datcha Mandala.
Enjoying their first time in the UK, French rock group Datcha Mandala took the stage by storm - never standing still once but instead lunging and grooving across the stage at all times. They successfully made a still room shake their hips along to their smooth, blues rock sound.
It was easy to see why everyone started moving almost subconsciously, Datcha Mandala’s music is fast-paced and leary with screaming vocals, bellowing guitar solos, a winding bassline and sound effects that take the music to another dimension - it was thrilling and almost exhausting to hear with such a fast tempo.
Beers lined across the stage, Hayseed Dixie got ready to unleash their bizarre set of hard rock covers and original songs to a crowd ready to party.
It’s impossible not to smile all the way through a Hayseed Dixie set - not only are their covers delightfully strange but their tongue-in-cheek sense of humour gives their set more of a variety show feel than a concert.
“There’s four main ingredients to a Hayseed Dixie show - drinkin’, cheatin’, killin’ and hell - and we’re going to make sure we do all of those things tonight, are you with me Wolverhampton! Lets drink!”
Vocalist John Wheeler regularly had the crowd in fits of laughter - either by telling anecdotal stories about his mother wanting to be a lawyer, reflecting on the British values of insulting one another and going to the pub, or simply making the crowd copy any strange noise he can think of.
“If I go into a bar in America, everyone keeps themselves to themselves, but if I have four, five, six rounds in an English pub - I’ve seen photos of everyone’s family, had arguments about politics and religion, nearly had a fight, made up, brought another round and arranged a barbeque for next week” Wheeler laughed
Hayseed Dixie began as an AC/DC cover band, and their rendition of Dirty Deeds Done Cheap rocked the house down, with a mandolin solo that blew me away.
The band are not just limited to AC/DC however, they also delivered bluegrass-tinted renditions of Motorhead’s Ace Of Spades, Edwin Starr’s War, Bob Marley’s Buffalo Soldier, Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody mashed up with Marvin Gaye’s Let's Get It On.
Though covers, each song took on a brand new life with the addition of violins, mandolins, banjos, extra guitar parts, a switch-up of tempos and a whole new vocal range that makes the unique sound of Hayseed Dixie.
Their original songs went down equally as well with the whole crowd singing and dancing along, creating an electric atmosphere that is virtually unheard of on a hazy, Sunday night.
A toe-tappingly brilliant show from start to finish, Hayseed Dixie brought to life a variety of classic songs with a bluegrass/rock and roll twist as well as a variety of perfectly-crafted original songs together in a live set that will be hard to forget.
