On a sunny Belfast evening I had the opportunity to re-live my youth as
Wheatus played the Limelight in Belfast.
Wheatus, a pop rock band most well known for their hit ‘Teenage
Dirtbag’ entertained a packed out Limelight with a mix of new songs and old
favourites. They hit the big time around the same time as Sum 41 and Weezer and
follow a similar style.
The crowd were eager to see Wheatus but most were pleasantly
surprised by the support act- Michael; an electronic and experimental music
group. In fact they are quite the discovery and one to watch for the future.
Composed of three members including Mathew Milligan (the guitarist from Wheatus)
they perfectly showcased their talents, even while using an ipad as their mix
table.
Wheatus took the stage to rapturous applause and didn’t
disappoint the crowd. Entertaining and amusing, stage presence is not lacking
with this group. They played a good variety of new and older songs but the
solos by Brendan B Brown were a highlight.
They brought a relaxed atmosphere to the Limelight and
didn’t appear to be playing to a set playlist. They encouraged the crowd to
shout out their requests (of course Teenage Dirtbag was requested more than
once!) but fans were eager to hear songs from all seven of their albums
including Holiday, Sunshine and Lullaby.
It was obvious that a large percentage of the crowd came for
one that song. The great thing about Wheatus is they didn’t shy away from
playing their most famous song; they embraced it. The crowd finally got what
they had been waiting for at the end of the set. They had the crowd jumping and
singing along and I am sure I wasn’t the only one picturing the famous music
video for the track! They even performed a remixed version during their encore
before saying goodnight with a final solo from Brown.
If you haven't seen Wheatus live I would recommend it. I was
pleasantly surprised by their depth and back catalogue- they are much more than
Teenage Dirtbags!
Review by Ahmed Al Sarraf
Pictures by Darren McVeigh
Review by Ahmed Al Sarraf
Pictures by Darren McVeigh
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