Written By: JULIET HURWITT
Photos By: JULIET HURWITT
It would have been enough to have a whole gig with just Will Wilde, but when Thomas Heppell was announced as the support act, it was like the star was firmly put on top of the Christmas tree. The people at the monthly Friday Night Blues at The Butler in Reading were in for a treat, and they knew it too as tickets were practically sold out!
Thomas Heppell performed a solo acoustic set and started with Good ol’ Doney from his current album. When he finished the song, in answer to my question, and I’m sure yours too, Thomas explained that a ‘doney’ is from an Elwood James song and means lass. The song itself I can only describe as a grungy mix of the blues, and a perfect opener. There were slower, less bluesy songs in Hey Victoria for the romantics amongst us, which Thomas had written in the car. I didn’t ask whether the car had been moving or not, but it clearly produced a good writing environment. Neil Packman (the organiser of Friday Night Blues) was invited to the stage to join in on Underdog as ‘he’s a bit good on harmonica himself.’ They made a great duo, as did their trademark hats. Talking of hats….at one point Thomas took his off to reveal what he himself described as baldness! He laughed with his comforting words ‘happens to the best of us.’ With hat firmly back on his head, he told us that he’s touring next year, including the 100 Club in London in January supporting Aynsley Lister. Confidently interacting with the audience, he noticed there were plenty of Thomas Heppell t-shirts being worn, so he knew people would help with John the Revelator. This involved Thomas singing the whole song in a cappella with the audience singing back ‘John the Revelator’ in response to ‘who’s that riding?’ At one point, Thomas held a note for what seemed an impossibly long time that rightly earned rapturous applause. Stunning. Thomas was nominated for 2 UK Blues Awards in 2024 (Emerging and Acoustic Blues Artist), and I’m sure with songs and performances like these it won’t be long before he’s winning them. As he told us, with the fans support, social media helps get him noticed and invited to perform at new venues to new audiences, so you know what to do!
The first time I unknowingly saw Will Wilde was in the band Bad Luck Friday. Unfortunately, it was also their last gig. Ironically it was on a Friday! Bad luck indeed. Tonight, Will was accompanied by his own four-piece band, and Reading was the first night on a string of dates that will lead into next year’s album release tour.
There was no slow blues introduction to Will Wilde tonight. He opened his set in an explosion of harmonica playing with Wild Man, then into Don’t Play with Fire. The harmonica playing singing musician had arrived and everyone paid attention. We enjoyed a spectacular continuation of the evening’s fabulous music. During Learn How to Love the audience was encouraged to battle out the ‘whoas’ between the ladies and the fellas, although everyone was a winner by just being there. Finally, Will paused for breath to introduce his single recorded with Walter Trout, and title track of the forthcoming album, aptly titled The Blues is Still Alive. This is a great, slow, bluesy track and should encourage everyone to buy the album if the other tracks are anywhere near this good. Will told us a story about Woolworths vouchers and how he found his path to playing the blues and harmonica, but I won’t spoil the story and will leave it for you to hear from the man himself at one of the forthcoming gigs. There is however an amusing story that has been told before. As you may be aware, Will wears a belt sash-style to hold his harmonicas, which from a distance to the uninitiated does look like it could be holding ammunition! So much so, that one time when Will was in the audience waiting to do his show at The 1865 (Southampton), someone reported him to security as being a suicide bomber! Luckily, the only explosions came from Will’s harmonica playing!
Tonight continued with tracks from the new album that included Gypsy Woman and Trouble of that Girl that had a real rock ‘n’ roll vibe and got the audience dancing or bopping in their seats. Later on, Will invited Thomas Heppell to the stage to join him in playing ‘a proper blues track’ and proceeded to deliver an excellent rendition of Hooch Choochie Man by Muddy Waters. I don’t know if these musicians had met before tonight, but they played together seamlessly. Also played tonight were older songs like Paranoia which is about a guy who used to smoke a lot of weed. It wasn’t a judgement, but a story about worry and concern for another person; another slow passionate track. Drawing towards the end of the set, the band played On the Road Again by Canned Heat, which went down very well with the audience who were still dancing in the aisles, or seats. Will introduced the band, all of whom have a very high pedigrees ranging from playing with the likes of The Blockheads, Cliff Richard, and Jeff Beck. The keyboard player was Greg Coulson who is an accomplished musician in his own right. It’s obvious that great musicians attract great musicians.
The last song Will introduced as ‘by the greatest blues rock guitarist of all time’ and ended a superb evening with Parisian Walkways. Personally, I think Gary Moore was to blues guitar, what Will Wilde is now to harmonica playing. Top of their class. Who’d have thought that harmonicas could be played with such passion, skill, and diversity of tunes? Tonight, Will Wilde had shown that all of these were possible, and the packed-out venue right to the end was testimony to how much everyone enjoyed his music.
Tonight was definitely a good luck Friday!
