A Night Out with… King Hannah, Nick Cave and Wunderhorse
This blog’s authors enjoying the pre-gig buzz at Mascotte awaiting Wunderhorse.
It used to be said of London buses that you would wait an hour for one and then three would come along together, although in the case of the number 45 from Lavender Hill in Battersea to South Kensington this was indeed no mere exaggeration and more often than not the reality. Well, the same could be said of the Zurich concert scene in the middle of June 2025. You wait weeks, nay months, for an enticing night out to rear its head and then up pop three on consecutive nights.
It all began on the evening of June 10th with the swift return to Switzerland’s largest city of Liverpool outfit King Hannah, no doubt buoyed by their impressive 10th position in 2024’s Top 15 albums on this very blog!
Essentially a duo of Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle, but here ably supported by Dylan Gorman on bass and Jake Lipiec on drums, the band are touring extensively in Europe this summer. On a warm summer evening at the Dynamo club perched above the banks of the River Limmat, what better ambience could the band, whose aforementioned album was called Big Swimmer, have chosen? Hannah enters resembling facially Morticia Addams of Addams Family TV series fame but deciding to forego the trademark black outfits of that show for a bright red flamenco dress as if ready to perform at some Seville hotspot. To compound the similarities with American 60s TV series, bassist Gorman has his hair done in the style of young Eddie from the rival horror sitcom The Munsters.
King Hannah mostly played material from their recent Big Swimmer album, which ranked at #10 on this author’s 2024 Top 15 list.
King Hannah musically are difficult to define - a bit of east coast Velvets, a touch of Slowdive shoegaze, hints of Americana, something for everyone really, particularly if you get close up to marvel at Whittle’s psychedelic guitar explosions. Leaning mostly towards material from the Big Swimmer album, the crowd were also treated to a laid back new song and an encore of Gillian Welch’s “Look At Miss Ohio” hinting perhaps at a more mellow follow-up on any future album. When the band let rip in unison on the more raucous numbers the Züri audience showed their delight by whooing joyfully - as seems to be par for the course at gigs nowadays. The crowd exited content and it only really remains to say Whooooooooo!
There was certainly little danger of the following night’s star ambling on stage flamenco-style. Australia’s finest entered typically perfectly attired in his trademark tailored Savile Row suit, and his accompanist Colin Greenwood of Radiohead also similarly looked quite dapper stage right. Nick Cave was greeted by a standing ovation befitting a man who has blessed us with countless stunning albums, mostly with his loyal Bad Seeds, over the course of the last forty years. And the Zurich crowd were treated to the Australian maestro delving into his almost unparalleled back catalogue. A loud female voice asked after two songs if he could feel our love. (There is always one.) Nick sheepishly confirmed before moving on through a set that included firm favourites “The Mercy Seat”, “O Children” and “The Ship Song” as well as a bit of Grinderman for good measure. He was in jovial mood too, pitting the balcony seated against those on the floor in a hilarious “Balcony Man”. Later albums Push The Sky Away and Skeleton Tree were also rewarded as well as later works Ghosteen and Wild God with “Cinnamon Horses” from the latter a personal favourite on the night. Respects were paid to Leonard Cohen and Marc Bolan with a particularly heartfelt take on T Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer” before finishing with what must now be the obligatory singalong to his much loved Boatman’s Call classic “Into My Arms”. We were indeed in the presence of one of a dwindling number of living legends confirmed only by the news on getting back home that Brian Wilson had passed. Nick Cave should be in no doubt that his name will fly high alongside such luminaries of contemporary popular music when its history is written.
Wednesday’s gig was spent with a proper popular music legend in Nick Cave.
The following night was also a nostalgic occasion as co-blog host Billy and I attended the last ever concert at Mascotte club at Bellevue. Yet another excellent small venue unable to make ends meet following on from the legendary Abart club. Mascotte has given us many evenings for those bands just knocking on the door. Particular favourites were appearances by The Allah Las, The Teskey Brothers and The Vaccines amongst others.
And what a great night we had for the re-appearance of Wunderhorse after performing as last year’s support act for Fontaines DC. Little did they know on this hot Zurich night that their own support act very nearly stole the show! Rarely has such a tight outfit from Birmingham played so well since a Southgate/Ehiogu-led back line marshalled Aston Villa to a goalless draw at the Bridge many moons ago. Overpass ran onto stage looking like a gang of 15 year olds escaping a Knock Down Ginger. They may well be fifteen years old for all I know but this Brummie four piece of Max, Indie, Joe and Elliot played as if they had been doing this for decades. Five nuggets of alternative indie rock pop music from their first two EPs that had the young Mascotte crowd wooing contentedly. Catch this band while you can!
Wunderhorse performing “Girl” off their 2024 album Midas.
Wunderhorse would need to pull out all the stops and rarely has a group played the Mascotte with more gusto than this fourpiece led by jack of all trades Jacob Slater! What an incessant night of garage indie post-punk rocking blues we were treated to. Like a tennis crowd following the ball back and forth we watched the band bobbing and weaving and ducking and diving at breakneck speed through a set that took in both their released albums to date. 2024’s Midas was missed by this scribe when compiling the top albums of 2024. This was a glaring oversight as tracks like “Silver”, “Arizona” and “Purple” rained down on us. Get it on in the car and enjoy these nuggets of 21st century alternative indie. Idles will do well to out-Wunderhorse this lot at Winterthur in August. I for one will certainly be championing this fine band. A special note of thanks must go to whoever decided to play Sly Stone’s “Family Affair” as the group entered the arena.
Wunderhorse frontman Jacob Slater working his way through a high-octane set.
So, the concert orgy came to a close. The bands move on and we look forward to the arrival of the next. With MJ Lenderman and Idles at Winterthur in August, Somebody’s Child and Johnny Marr in November, we have lots to look forward to.