Dustball and Wingnut @ the Point, 13/11/99

This gig almost marked the end of an era in Oxford music. 1999 has been a year in which many older established bands called it a day while newer bands emergence 'onto the scene'. So it was apt that the support band tonight were Wingnut a group many have tipped to fill the gap the headliners Dustball will leave.

Wingnut's style is pretty similar to that of Dustball. While some bands could do this badly, Wingnut have managed to create a good balance between the noise of the guitars to the melodies. The best way to describe them would be a cross between the Samurai Seven and Dustball. There is so much energy onstage, the lead singer can probably compete with the Sammies for the person who can jump the highest. The only bad thing about the set was that they ended on a Llama Farmers cover...surely there are lots more better songs to cover than theirs?

Perhaps they should have covered a Dustball song. As it was their last ever gig they played for more than an hour. The band themselves admitted that they forgot to bring the setlist, and so in the end the crowd could just request the songs to be played. In the ideal world this set would have been the greatest hits set, played in a large capacity venue. But it was not to be. Instead we were treated to the boys playing a relentless set of all the fast Dustball songs, the songs that made us love the band so much. The addition of a second guitarist brought an extra edge to the music, making it louder than ever. As for the promised special guest.... well we got Sam (ex of Beaker) singing backing vocals to Senor Nachos and Rude Boy and Deadly doing the "Inside, Outside" bit to Owe it All to... It was a last ever gig, but the boys went out on a high, in the only way they could. And they could have only finished with one song, one which the audience had been crying out for all evening...Back For Good Well hopefully they'll be, sometime.