A mere two years on from the release of their debut single ‘Fluffy’, Wolf Alice have been back in the country doing the rounds with their first full-length record, My Love Is Cool, as part of their Splendour in the Grass tour. Thursday night saw the North London four-piece take to the stage at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel playing never before performed live tracks off their new album to a packed out crowd, in what was a flawlessly smooth 45 minute set.
For opening acts, you’d be hard pressed to find a better-suited support band to warm up an audience for Wolf Alice than Bad//Dreems. Playing tracks from their arsenal of grungy garage rock anthems like ‘Dumb Ideas’, ‘Hoping For’ and ‘My Only Friend’, the Adelaide rockers played a killer set, and with their debut album Dogs At Bay to be released August 21st, we doubt it will be long before we see them selling out their own shows at the likes of the Corner Hotel.
Wolf Alice kicked off their set with an intense performance of ‘Fluffy’ – one of their first releases and one of the more Pixies-sounding songs from My Love Is Cool. The united power and aggression expelled over the course of the evening by singer/guitarist Ellie Roswell, bassist Joel Amey and drummer Theo Ellis was absolutely relentless start to finish – but it would impossible not to feel the energy emanating from guitarist/singer Joff Odie’s completely unapologetic punk rock demeanor. By the end of the second song performed, ‘She’, it was clearly evident that this was going to be a show to remember.
A few highlights of the night were tracks ‘You’re a Germ’ and ‘Bros’, both of which feature on the new record, and of course crowd favorite ‘Giant Peach’ which is currently being played on rotation by Tripe J. One particular standout performance of the show was new song ‘Libson’.
The entrancing contrast between strong, almost overbearing riffs and Roswell’s sweet saccharine vocal melodies needs to be noted, ‘Libson’ is one of those tracks that just seems infinity more powerful when played live. Fans would have appreciated the pristine performance of ‘White Leather’ a B-side released with their first release of ‘Fluffy’ back in 2013 which is now featured on My Love Is Cool.
An encore performance concluded the show with a rousing rendition of ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’ from their 2014 Creature Songs EP, accompanied by a crowd surfing by Roswell, much to the front rows’ delight.
Despite showing off Roswell’s diverse vocal range, which can alternate from a mesmerizing lullaby to a fearless snarl reminiscent of Courtney Love and Pat Benetar, the band seemed to lose their audience on softer songs. Perhaps this was simply a result of those songs being lesser known, but there was definitely a noticeable lull in the audience.
Tracks that are slower to start, such as ’90 Mile Beach’, ‘Wonderwhy’ and ‘Your Loves Whore’, just didn’t seem to grip the gig-goers attention like you might have expected them to, and you couldn’t help but (indignantly) notice the chatter of loud voices across the Corner’s not-so-large venue over the music.
It’s strange to think that anyone could not be entranced by the mesmerizing melodies and the captivating stage presence of Rosewell herself, but when you consider the band’s most noted songs are the rock-heavy tracks like ‘Giant Peach’, ‘You’re A Germ’ and ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’, we could assume that those sorts of songs are what’s earning Wolf Alice the majority of their fan base.
