It’s really hard to pin down the sound of Massive Wagons, but if you put a metaphorical gun to my head, I’d have to say they’re what would happen if Cheap Trick and Blink 182 got hammered in a Lancashire pub and started a crusade to bring back arena rock and remind the 10-second attention span generation that bands can still actually make fucking albums. Like, whole records where every track mattered? That’s what Massive Wagons are fighting for, and Saturday night at Shepherds Bush Empire, they won another battle for the cause.
Fresh off cracking the UK top 5 with their seventh studio album Earth to Grace, they’re proving there’s still a place for bands who give a shit about the album format. While the new record dials back the intensity from 2022’s Triggered (which gave us the middle-finger anthem “Generation Prime”), it makes up for it with pure songwriting muscle. The new material hits different live – “Missing on TV” was an absolute standout, while “Night Skies” showed they can dial it down and still keep a packed house hanging on every note.
Barry Mills was bouncing around like he was in an aerobics class after drinking two pints of Red Bull during “A.S.S.H.O.L.E.” – third song in and already the place was chaos. This is clearly the band’s most popular song of the night, but they have so much more to offer regarding lyrics and storytelling. While the cheeky manner of shouting “You, yeah, you, you’re an asshole” is certainly fun and catchy, it’s really selling the band short for the listeners who don’t go deeper. But much like the London weather, wait three minutes and it’s changing. When Hundred Reasons’ Colin Doran stormed the stage for “The Good Die Young,” the band showed exactly what that depth looks like. Already the album’s standout track, live it takes on an entirely new emotional weight. Doran and the band turned Shepherds Bush into a bouncing mass of believers, and for those three minutes, rock ‘n’ roll felt like it could change the world again. Like it mattered. Like it could lift you up and carry you somewhere better.
That’s what sets these guys apart – they’re not here to make playlist-friendly background noise. They’re building something real, one sweat-soaked gig at a time. Earth to Grace is stacked with so many potential singles it’s giving off Def Leppard Hysteria energy – you know, back when albums had more than two good songs on them.
But words can’t capture what these guys do live. You need to be in the room, feeling the floor shake, watching a band who actually believes rock ‘n’ roll can still save your soul. The encore drove it home – “Ratio” nearly took the roof off before they closed the night with a thunderous “House of Noise.” After closing out their UK run of dates, it’s clear Massive Wagons are just getting started and primed for a massive 2025.
