Gig Review: SOiL & Puddle Of Mudd. Norwich Waterfront, 27/10/11

Back in the good old days of the venues club nights, before it started aspiring to be a facsimile of every other club in Norwich (albeit a much dingier one), The Waterfront used to play 'Halo' by SOiL every week in it's main room. It was (and still is) one of those songs everyone went nuts for.

So when it was announced that SOiL were going to be playing the Waterfront, and bringing back original vocalist Ryan McCombs (who is currently the vocalist in Drowning Pool) to celebrate the tenth anniversary of 'Scars', the album 'Halo' comes from (an album that was a huge hit, even though it was released on September 11th, 2001), it was only natural to buy a ticket.

Joining them in a revolving headliner double bill were post grunge survivors Puddle Of Mudd. It had been so long since I had heard any of their music I had actually forgotten that I'd listened to their breakthrough album 'Come Clean' a lot, back in the day. So when I spun it again, I instantly remembered some of their great material.

Up first on the headliner bill were SOiL, and even if they were inebriated (and they really, really were) they put on a great performance. The band seemed to have a great connection with each other, and were having a right laugh performing together again, by the looks of it.

The highlight though, had to be 'Halo'. A drum solo started the song up, and McCombs left the stage, only to re-emerge in the crowd, battling to the front row, where he sang the song perched on the guardrail, then proceeded to light up, all with the security guards looking very nervous indeed.

SOiL played...

1. Breaking Me Down
2. Need To Feel
3. My Own
4. Redefine
5. Cross My Heart
6. Inside
7. The One
8. Wide Open
9. Black 7
10. Unreal
11. Halo

Trying to top that then, were Puddle Of Mudd. And I really had no clue how popular they still were! The sold out crowd were pretty heaving during SOiL, but, if anything, it became even more crowded for POM's set. Mostly a female audience showed up all of a sudden (cue the usual attempts to get to the front, as if they have some right to. Here's a hint: get to the venue early and you can), as the band launched into 'Out Of My Head'. 

The some reason, frontman Wes Scantlin (looking like a cross between Kurt Cobain and WWE wrestler Edge) had a serious problem with a former member of his management team. The sound was a bit muddy at the front, so couldn't make a lot of it out, but it sounds like the band was slated badly by this guy, and Scantlin was taking exception. No idea when this all happened, but the way Scantlin was going on about it, it was recently!

Other than that he interacted well with the crowd, but didn't seem to talk all that much other than that, as the band raced through the hits (could not find an accurate setlist at this time): 'Control', 'Drift And Die', 'Famous', 'Psycho'...before attempting an ill-advised cover of AC/DC's 'T.N.T'. I usually avoid covers albums like the plague and this was proof why. But all was redeemed with a glorious double header to finish the show with 'Blurry' and 'She Hates Me'.

Here's a compilation video a friend compiled of POM's set, check it out (and his other videos too!)

SOiL: ****
Puddle Of Mudd: ***1/2


SOiL just take away the evening for me, with a far more energetic set than Puddle Of Mudd. Not knocking them though, but it was a rather fast run through, with a bit of a dodgy cover involved too