Music / Review
Review: The Hoosiers, Thekla – ‘They know how to put on a show’
Going to level with you here – Goodbye Mr A is the greatest song of all time. With incredible storytelling, an insane trumpet break, and unironically genius lyrics like:
If life is subtraction/Your number is up/Your love is a fraction/It’s not adding up
The song still sounds good 16 years after its release.
Halfway through The Hoosiers set they begin an acoustic version of the song, and we can’t believe we’ve been robbed of the real thing. Turns out they’re just messing with us, and they’re saving the best til last.
The set is full of japes – they take a break to take off their jackets, joking that they always play ‘the-first-person-to-take-off-their-jacket-game’. Frontman Irwin Sparkes loses, shaking off his hand-painted, tassled cape.
He’s a formidably groovy guy – with sparkly guitars and bedazzled shoes, he’s a frontman in every sense of the word. He bounces across the stage, occasionally breaking free and running into the audience.
After more than a decade in the game, the Hoosiers know how to put on a show. Sparkes keeps asking us if we’re ‘ready to get Thekled’.
It’s always fun to see how bands react to playing on the Bristol Boat, but I’ve never heard anyone talk about getting ‘Thekled’ before. The band are eternal pioneers.
I vividly remember buying their debut The Trick To Life back in the early 2000s, when HMV used to do those CDs for £2.99 if you bought another CD. The album still holds up, and the band prove themselves truly timeless.
I have to admit that I haven’t kept up with the band since then, but The Hoosiers fan base are still going strong (someone is even wearing a shirt that says ‘Hoosier Daddy?’).
The show is sold out, and Thekla is packed to the rafters.
‘You guys are everywhere!’, Sparkes laughs, beaming in disbelief at those of us on the balcony.
Songs from their recent release Confidence are met with the same enthusiasm as the classics, and the faces in the front row know every word. Sparkes is eternally grateful, declaring that we are all his ‘new favourite people’.
He promises to meet us at the merch table afterwards, but never materialises. But you know what they say about never meeting your idols.
Main photo: Mia Smith
Read next:
- Review: Miranda Sex Garden, The Fleece – ‘It is thunderous mayhem’
- Review: Anna Erhard, The Louisiana – ‘Addictive, infectious indie pop’
- Review: Opa Rosa, The Jam Jar – ‘They were extraordinary’
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