Shed Seven
Woodsies, Friday June 27, 2025
They were last here in 1995, the same year Oasis, Pulp and Elastica were on. But if Shed Seven missed the premier league when Britpop ruled the airwaves, they have been remarkably resilient: last year they had two number one albums with A Matter Of Time and Liquid Gold. As Rick Witter, still whippet-lean and up for posing in a fetching see-through black glittery top, wryly observes this afternoon, “It appears we have become big time charlies.”
With five backing vocalists and three horn players, they’re more than an indie band these days. While there are nineties flavours of Oasis – enthusiastic, crowd-inciting guitarist Paul Banks acts like Noel and Liamrolled into one – an earlier Manchester band also presides. Songs like Chasing Rainbows, On Standby or Speakeasy - familiar from a nineties TV ad for mobile phones - with their Johnny Marr-esque guitars and northern melancholy suggest that The Smiths’ Hatful Of Hollow was a big record for them. Is the glitterball-tastic Disco Down and its call to “burn this disco down” a relative of The Smiths’ Panic? If this is true, Let’s Go Dancing is their This Is A Light That Never Goes Out.
And like Smiths gigs, this is all about communal celebration. Much warmth comes from the stage and back again in the packed out tent, and the Shed-heads’ cheering is full-on throughout. Last year’s Talk Of The Town mixes Pinball Wizard and La’s chug: 1996 top ten hit Going For Gold, which does sound a bit like Suspicious Minds, promptly segues into that very song, and the frontman of Elvis/Nirvana tribute Elvana comes on in a regal jumpsuit to duet and covers the emotionally wrung out Witter’s shoulders with a cloak at the end. Again, hysteria. Someone sets a flare off near MOJO for closer Chasing Rainbows.
All this and an anecdote about Rick nearly being sick live on TV on This Morning With Richard And Judy in 1996. Have no doubt, this was entertainment.
Shed Seven At Glastonbury 2025 Setlist:
Let's Go
Speakeasy
Talk Of The Town
Going For Gold
Suspicious Minds (with Elvana)
On Standby
Let's Go Dancing
Disco Down
Getting Better
Chasing Rainbows
Follow all of MOJO’s Glastonbury 2025’s coverage HERE!
Picture: Shed Seven at Live in the Park, Preston September 8, 2024 (Credit: Katja Ogrin/Redferns)