Wolf Alice surely can rock. From an appealing ordinary indie rock band to something unconventionally beautiful, this North London band has fed their music wolf with something that provided them with a strong personality, solid guitar-led tracks and tender shoegazing hymns like the opener Heavenward for the last show of their UK & Ireland Visions of a Life tour.
After the Sunflower Bean sister act warmed the legs of those who were queuing for hours to get the first row and dedicated their song Easier Said to the main act, “Wolf Alice is the best fucking band!”, the band led by the ‘Taylor Swift’s secret evil sister’ looking singer, displayed part of their power shaking the foundation of the theatre with rebel rage songs like Yuk Foo and You’re a Germ before coming back to shoegazing and tender singing with Your Loves Whore, St. Purple & Green and the post-punk romanticism of Don’t Delete the Kisses.
Bros sounded like a Smashing Pumpkins anthem with the audience singing along and clapping their hands to the awakening of some grunge sound that it was about to take over the show. The stage turned blue for Silk while this time mostly the girls were providing the chorus for the band, but this was just merely a distraction before coming back to the noise and strong energy of Lisbon and Formidable Cool.
If you haven’t seen them live yet, don’t expect some Yeah Yeah Yeahs paraphernalia with the singer going crazy on the stage smashing her voice. Rather than that, you will get the performance of a young serious band that focuses on providing a clean switch from tender to noise at any time, with hit singles like Beautifully Unconventional making the ticket worth for those who attended their show hoping to dance to a catchy pop tune.
But if you came here for the guitars and the guitars only, their grunge transformation towards the end of the show provided some gems like the Soundgarden-esque Sadboy and Visions of A Life or the Kurt Cobain spirit in Moaning Lisa Smile. They left after Fluffy, with guitar player Joff Oddie and bass player Theo Ellis at the edge of the stage teasing the audience, but they came back to silence the whole Olympia Theatre with Blush while the disco ball reflected green lights over the people’s faces and Ellie Rowsell guided her gaze around the grandstand of the venue.
One last punch with Giant Peach and that was it. A neat show with happy faces and the end of a tour that was a rocker statement. People were quiet and still, like the audience on a Twin Peaks episode. Not jumpy, sometimes nodding their heads or showing a sign of the horns, but enjoying their time in the pit. The singer waited until the end of the show to approach the audience and throw some picks at them while the bass player took out his shirt and gave it away, probably the most rebellious thing the Londoners did before leaving UK and Ireland for good.
Setlist
1. Heavenward
2. Yuk Foo
3. You’re a Germ
4. Your Loves Whore
5. St. Purple & Green
6. Don’t Delete The Kisses
7. Bros
8. Silk
9. Lisbon
10.Formidable Cool
11. Planet Hunter
12. Beautifully Unconventional
13. Sadboy
14. Space & Time
15. Moaning Lisa Smile
16. Visions Of A Life
17. Fluffy
Encore:
18. Blush
19. Giant Peach
Be the first to comment