So Wolfmother (Mk II) finally return to the live arena. Two questions I hear you ask: what’s their new stuff like? And did the new members cut it? It’s always hard to judge new stuff when you hear it for the first time live, plus it’s officially their third live gig together. It’s also hard to judge the new tracks when the sound mix was rubbish. Okay now I can’t sound mix but you’d think the person employed could actually do the job. It’s not some small show at the Exeter where you get your mate to do it because he happens to be studying a WEA course. This sound mixer would have, I’m assuming (a big assumption, I know), mixed a show or two before. Therefore the crowd didn’t get the full impact of the new and old tracks. To answer the other question, the new members did a good job. The addition of the second guitarist is a great idea. It gives their sound a bit more grunt. The new drummer wasn’t afraid to beat the skins senseless. The final new member swapped from bass to keyboard duties throughout the show. Although he played these two instruments he didn’t have much stage presence. Maybe a case of the nerves? A few more shows under his belt will fix that.
Song wise they mixed the new with the old. Their first album is quite solid so it was good to hear some album tracks getting an airing and it wasn’t just an obvious set list. Crowd pleasers were Woman, White Unicorn, Mind’s Eye and closer Joker and the Thief, which was my highlight. The new stuff doesn’t depart too much from the old stuff, which is a good thing. Their mix of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin took the world by storm in 2006, so why change a winning formula?
Earlier in the night the live action from No Through Road, Wolf & Cub and The Getaway Plan was largely lost on the bourbon-and-mix-from-a-can fuelled crowd as they collectively came down from the Holden vs Ford car racing frenzy.
If it wasn’t for the sound problems early on in the show, it would have been a perfect end to the the Clipsal 500.
to listen to their music now on 
