REVIEW: THE WOMBATS AT CARDIFF SOLUS (17/03/11)
It has been just over three years since young indie rockers The Wombats last performed in Cardiff, now the band from Liverpool are back on tour in support of the release of their upcoming album, ‘This Modern Glitch’.
The Wombats debut album ‘A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation’ received a career high response. Singles from the album ‘kill the director’ and ‘Moving to New York’ were chart storming singles that put the band on the map. Packed to the walls with an over enthusiastic crowd, the Norwegians Team Me have the pleasure of warming up the Solus crowd. Performing on a stage that is crammed with objects, the band is clearly not shy of energy or potential hits. The young crowd in attendance seem to enjoy the friendly pop rockers set despite it being over just after the band got started. Next up is a band that have been making a name for themselves recently, The Morning Parade are full of confidence and perform a storming set. The band have received great critical acclaim and have been played on Radio 1 on several occasions and debut single ‘under the stars’ has also been featured on the TV series ‘The Vampire Diaries’. Due to the young crowd in attendance, Morning Parade struggle to receive a great response during their set and seemed to slow the pace of the show down from where Team Me left off. Despite the fact that it seems Morning Parade have been booked to support the wrong tour, there is no doubt that the band will only be moving onto big things. As the lights come down for the headliners, electrifying screams come from the old and young who have been waiting anxiously for The Wombats. Kicking off their set with ‘Our Perfect Disease’ and then straight into ‘Kill the Director’, the crowd are in a frenzy of screams. The band sound as great live as what they do on record, the back projections that are present throughout their set create an extra exciting element to the show. Performing a mixture of old and new, there is a noticeable difference to the new songs that are being showcased. The songs seem to have a more mature approach now that the band have passed through their teen years, and seems that it may be going in the opposite direction to their last record. Performing notable fan favourites including, ‘Patricia the stripper and ‘Moving to New York’ before concluding their set with latest single ‘Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)’ which notably received the best response of the night, until the band gave in to the deafening chants of their name and returned to the stage to end the show with a bang, performing their most recognisable hit ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’.
Words and photos: Mike Lewis
