I’ll be quite honest in this review and say there wasn’t all that much of a gig from Puddle of Mudd themselves to review. Which if I had read up on the band and the lead singer Wez Scantlin, I probably could have expected that for my £15, I would see a grown man at his lowest in life rather than the two songs I know them for “She f**king hates me” and “Blurry” now I won’t pretend I was or am a massive fan of Puddle of Mudd but their songs bring some nostalgia from my era of growing up.

The two support bands worked hard and got the crowd pumped for the headliners Puddle Of Mudd, but they probably couldn’t quite have prepared the crowd for what did happen.

It was quite apparent that something was wrong when we waited around 30-40 minutes after the second support band “Unzucht” from Germany finished their set. People were getting a bit restless and the hype seemed to die down. Eventually the bands entered the stage and a guy with a black hoodie with his hood up and long blonde hair stood with his back to the audience, clearly everyone assumed this was Wez, so cheering occurred but no this was his friend pretending to be him until he arrived, sort of funny seen as Wez then rocks up a few minutes later with a backpack and a beer strolling onto stage like he was just passing through. I don’t really remember too much of what happened after that, not because I was drunk, but to be honest I wish I was drinking, as then it might not have been so cringey to watch. I say I don’t remember because I was just so engrossed by this man and how he was going to make it through a whole set.

The crowd stood and watched Wez struggle through barely managing to pronounce the words, the band continued to play and no one did or said anything to stop this horror show. In between songs he went off on a bit of a rant and a story in which he admitted to some addictions. Although i’m not sure it needed admitting as we could clearly see this man was in no fit state to be performing nevermind on tour with paying fans. Wez gave up mid song and threw the mic to the ground and walked off, to be honest it was probably the best decision for him, if it had ended there!

The crowd started boo’s and shouting abuse. We were then told he was just cooling down and would be back in a minute to sing “Blurry” the crowd cheered and changed their tune again to encourage him back on. This didn’t last long , he started to sing “She F**king Hates Me” and was really struggling to remember the words or even speak. Again someone apparently threw some drink at him and he got up to leave again when a fan entered the stage to calm him down and get the crowd to support him. Funnily enough it didn’t work this time and the crowd were pretty mad.

Another fan invaded the stage and started to carry on the song for him until security took him off “he actually wasn’t bad” and clearly is a bit of a legend for giving the people what they wanted to hear, words to a song they know the band for. I won’t go on much more but let’s just say after this, the gig did not continue and it turned more into chants, drinks thrown and boo’s. I did feel for Wez, as yes it is wrong people have paid to come and see him and his band perform songs and they didn’t really get to see that and Yes, he probably shouldn’t have spent all day getting wasted in a local bar. But this guy has some serious issues and people abusing him and throwing things at him was not really appropriate. He is a human and he clearly needs help. Yes, it was disappointing to fans, but you did at least get a show of some sort.

Now a positive would be the support bands seemed to go down really well, Fear the Fallen and Unzucht, not really my cup of tea but very well played and plenty of enthusiasm. The venue itself “The Diamond Live Lounge” handled it well, probably the best they could and the bouncers and security seemed pretty good and fair with any problems that arose. The venue did remind me of The Light in Scunthorpe a little, with a similar layout. It had great lighting and a nice atmosphere “Until the plastic cup throwing”. The sound for the headliner wasn’t great as Wez’s mic kept giving feedback but to be honest, there wasn’t any point in sorting it out because I don’t think it could have got any better even if they adjusted the sound. Don’t get me wrong Wez can sing but probably not when he is that out of.

I wish any venue and crowd good luck for his upcoming gigs, but please try to refrain from throwing things at him or the stage. I mean not only is it quite inhuman to do to someone in such a state but your f**king up a lot of expensive instruments and sound equipment. Just because someone else is being disrespectful doesn’t mean you have to lower yourself, just learn from the lesson, don’t go see the band again and play it on your cd  or mp3 player instead.

This hasn’t put me off visiting the venue again. I don’t expect my money back because I paid to see Puddle Of Mudd and that’s what I saw. It’s a top venue and I wouldn’t blame them for a band’s actions.

And for those who wanted to hear Blurry and didn’t get to, this will have to do.