The Waeve – Village Underground, London
The Waeve – Village Underground, London
By Gavin Fearnley
In the three years since forming, can The Waeve finally move on from being seen as a mere side project for Blur’s Graham Coxon?
To ignore the fact Coxon is in the band would be slightly daft. However, it does them a large disservice.
Along with his partner and mother of his child Rose Elinor Dougall (The Pipettes), The Waeve have already produced two excellent records, with their debut eponymous album being undoubtedly one of the best of last year. The second, City Lights, doesn’t quite reach those heights but is nevertheless extremely strong in its own right.
This concert, held in an intimate venue tucked away on a back street in Shoreditch, East London, has a capacity of around 1000 and took a few weeks to sell out … considering Coxon played two headline shows with Blur at Wembley stadium just over a year ago, this is quite a juxtaposition.
The evening kicks off with a sometimes, and presumably intentionally, challenging support set by local artist Nuha Ruby Ra. She twirls and shimmies, intermittently screaming into two microphones at the same time. Backed by two multi instrumentalists, the three-piece romp through their set with Tricky and Fall-esque glam-rock stomps. ‘Erase Me’ from 2021’s How To Move album is a highlight, hitting like a hillbilly ‘This is Hardcore‘ by Pulp.
Afterwards, the audience stays put. There’s very little movement and no sudden swanning off to the bar.
Many of those gathered are undoubtedly partly made up of Blur fans and, judging by some of the 90’s style mod haircuts, Britpop stragglers. There is a splattering of Blur t-shirts, which is to be expected. But this isn’t a Blur concert; it’s something much better than that.
‘Broken Boys’ opens the set and is raucous and rampant. A small mosh pit breaks out at the front and recent single ‘City Lights’ follows. It’s a barnstorming beginning and when Dougall stands up from behind the keyboards to play the tambourine, there’s quite some noise of approval. Later, she jokes about the heat but looks as striking as Kate Pierson of the B-52s.
“One of the best things that’s happened is seeing young girls get into our music,” Dougall says, nodding to fans in the front row before dedicating “Over and Over” to two who had queued since 8 a.m.
The setlist includes the magically beautiful ‘Sleepwalking’, ‘Drowning’, and ‘Druantria’; the latter being like the theme to World in Action if The Who‘s Pete Townsend had been let loose on it.
Surprisingly, Coxon plays saxophone on some songs and also harmonica. Also on the sax is Charlotte Glasson, who is a revelation tonight – at one point playing two saxophones at the same time and adding a warmer sound on the violin.
Coxon says very little during the concert but is clearly in his element; he’s smiling away even when apologising for blowing his nose into a towel. He looks to know these are some of the finest songs of his career.
An encore ends proceedings with ‘Can I Call You’ and ‘Sunrise’, opening and closing tracks from their debut and latest album, respectively.
“This is one of the most enjoyable gigs we’ve ever done,” Dougall says. “We’ll be back in a few months,” she reveals. More music or just more gigs? She doesn’t say, but if there’s a new album in 2025, that’ll be three records in as many years.
The Waeve may never eclipse Blur in fame, but if there were justice, they would. In the meantime, it’s time to stop seeing The Waeve as a side project. This is far too good for that.
