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Exeter Phoenix
Friday, May 1st 2026
Review and photos, Rob Wilkins
The Music Gods are truly shining on me, as just a few days after my last local gig, I get the chance of another. This time heading East to Exeter and the genteel Edwardian setting of the Phoenix theatre.
Tonight brings the opportunity to see two of my favourite newer rock bands, in Scarlet Rebels and Massive Wagons, on the “Everywhere We Go” tour. I am clearly not the only one who fancies catching these two on the same evening, as the gig has been sold out for weeks!
It has been far too long since I last saw Scarlet Rebels. For a while, I seemed to catch the boys from Llanelli fairly frequently, but it has been a few years now.
From the first notes of “Secret Drug” I remember just how much I love both the music and how it is presented. “Take You Home” enters the set early. Lead guitarist Chris Jones is everywhere as he rips out that catchy lead line. Wayne Doyle’s voice is full of power, and the rhythm section of brother Gary on drums and bassist Carl Oag are shaking the building to its foundation. “You Take My Breath Away” keeps up the pace, and looking back from the pit, the hall is full and rocking.
Leaving that pit, I can’t even get out of the door; the crowd is so crammed in, but I finally fight my way to the balcony to watch the rest of the show. Throughout the set, the bond and mutual respect forged between the two bands is evident, and the set progresses through “Streets of Fire”, ”Grace”, the slower, more introspective “It Was Beautiful”, and “Declining”. There is also a lovely connection with the crowd defined by the moment where Wayne spots a youngster on the barrier and hands her his guitar pick.
Doyle announces that the new album is ready and awaiting a release date, and I can’t wait to hear it! It is set closer ”Let Me In” that defines “Scarlet Rebels” with it’s ear worm singalong chorus. Wayne invites the audience to sing the refrain back and is clearly somewhat blown away by both the volume and the melodic quality of the Exeter audience. Hopefully an album launch tour soon – cannot come soon enough!
A short break, and it is time for Wagons to launch into a set that has me smiling in seconds and never lets that grin fade.
I will admit to being slightly scared. Last time I saw Wagons play, in Bristol, I left a gig of theirs disappointed for the first ever time. I remember writing that the setlist choice, literally an entire evening of songs released so recently that most people didn’t know any of them, led to a flat atmosphere totally unrepresentative of the band I loved. Tonight, though, that memory was cast away as I got to see Wagons at their absolute best.
“Everywhere We Go” rips into the crowd from the off. Vocalist Baz Mills is everywhere! Jumping, kicking, stalking, leaning out over the full pit of photographers to within inches of a crowd that completely fills the building. The rest of the set is balanced across four albums and mixes bangers with deeper cuts. Wagons look honed and up for it. None more than bassist Bowzer, who has lost an insane amount of weight and, rather than being a quieter character at the back, takes many opportunities at the front, even leaping into the air off Baz’s riser towards the end of the show!
Guitarist Stevie Holl is described by one of my friends present as “The Happiest Man On The Planet”, fellow guitarist Adam Thistlethwaite is more restrained physically but rips out glorious riff after glorious riff, and behind them all, Alex Thistlethwaite keeps the chaos in order. But it is the force of nature that is Baz that makes a Wagons gig so utterly joyful.
The set has some of my favourites. “Fuck the Haters” gets a rousing response, “Generation Prime”, “House of Noise”, “Bangin’on your Stereo”, and “China Plates” in particular have me singing along and having the best time up on the balcony. But it was the encore that defined one of the best gigs I have seen in a long time. In two songs, Wagons showed the bond between band and crowd, with both humour and genuine connection that few bands can match.
First, “Back To The Stack”, the definitive Wagons song for me. A tribute to the past but very much of the present. Visually so much fun as the whole band rocks out. Standing on the balcony, the poor security guard was racing around trying to decide whether the chaos in the crowd was good-natured moshing or the eruption of World War III as a sea of humanity surged back and forth.
The pit crew simply took all of the youngsters out of the crowd and sat them behind the barriers. What a moment for those kids, probably at their first gig, to remember.
Then, to finish, in case the energy wasn’t enough, Baz, with no grace whatsoever, was launched into the crowd in a rubber dinghy! Rammstein did this in their last tour, and it was orchestrated, controlled, visual, theatre. Wagons’ version, on the other hand, was chaos. Baz could have been carried out of the door, tipped over, stranded by the stage, or any number of other outcomes. Instead, by sheer force or personality, he circumnavigated the hall and safely returned to the stage.
Surely that was the end? Nope, he simply vaulted into the crowd and wandered around singing. I was looking down from above and have so many photos of the smiles and joy he carried with him everywhere, high-fiving, hugging, and simply connecting with every soul he encountered. The set had to come to an end, though, and after a well-deserved bow, the whole band dropped into the pit and shook hands, handed out picks and setlists and anything else their fans could persuade them to do.
THIS was the Wagons I missed last time. A band with a unique energy, synergistic with those who come to share the venue with them. It’s unique, it’s glorious, and I haven’t stopped smiling yet!
