I put my camera aside and joined in! Damn, I love that song! Where did that time go? Wendy had her foot up on the railing and her fist punching the air. You could see as she romped through the song how much she was enjoying it. Wendy after the show said how much she had enjoyed doing that one tonight, the crowd was fantastic. This was the last song of the set, damn the band did a great job on that. Then that song that straddled the boundary between being chart-friendly and alternative all out rocker, ‘Baby I Don’t Care’ was up. The guys bounced back and stirred things up once more with ‘Bad Valentine’ and ‘Bitter Funny’. The band left the stage, Wendy promised to be back – a guitar loop playing for the time the band were off the stage. Wendy had given an insight to that song and the writer Holly Beth Vincent (Holly and The Italians). A song familiar to my ears from its appearance in the “top 40” back in ’88, and from the aforementioned Transvision Vamp years. Time for some more older material, the sublime ‘Tell That Girl to Shut Up’ had the crowd bouncing along and joining in. ‘The Impression of Normalcy’, and another newer track ‘Cancel It… I’ll See Him On Monday’. “Not only are we celebrating a return to live venues, we are celebrating my No.16 album ‘Queen High Straight’, and also a different setlist every night, from Transvision Vamp through all my albums!” So far so good! Next up ‘If Looks Could Kill’, from the Vamp archives. She had explained earlier with her omnipresent enthusiasm. Brilliant stuff and given the Wendy James twist. Next up was a Bob Dylan cover of ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?’. All the instruments and vocals could be clearly heard. The volume was loud but comfortable and the mix desk techs did a great job. I have to say the sound mix was spot on tonight. Patterns shook as people danced and sang, almost drowning out the band at one stage. Then that riff fired up and the band kicked into hyper drive with the Transvision Vamp rocker ‘I Want Your Love’. Wendy had stated a different set would be being performed each night she would be playing and next we had ‘You’re A Good Man, Sister’ with that almost ‘Jean-Genie’ riff running through it. Wendy James Band live at Patterns, Brighton 30.9.21 (pic Ian Bourn) (click pic to enlarge!)

Pop punk bands with female singer