Saturday’s show at the Tivoli was hot, sweaty, and rowdy. It contained sporadic violence, occasional course language, and frequent drug use. If you reckon you could have handled, nah enjoyed, that then you would have been in for quite a night. 

First up on the bill was two-piece The Mess Hall. Starting only an hour after doors opened, the rock/blues noise of the Mess Hall successfully pulled punters away from the bar to warm up before for the rest of the show. 

Unlike Wolfmother, The Mess Hall have been around for ages and despite their first long-player only coming out earlier in the year, they have been touring the country and sharing their blaring power chords and booming bass drums to all those that would listen. Their experience shows in the live show, which displayed the professionalism of a well-rehearsed gigging band. Each song bled straight into the next and the set gained momentum the whole way through.

Songs off the debut LP, Notes from a Ceiling, along with various EP songs and some new tunes were all enjoyed by the crowd. Latest single Pills and old favourite Lock and Load warmed up the mosh pit and converted many new fans to the band growing in popularity. And if you could see past the swarm of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Pink Floyd t-shirts, you could spot The Mess Hall shirts beginning to spread.

But at around 10:30 a very strange and magical occurrence took place at the Tivoli. As the lights went down, a backdrop of the tour art fell along the back of the stage and this triggered a cosmic change, a re-alignment shall we say. Magically, the several hundred people together were transported to when Republicans were in the White House, Australia was fighting a foreign war with America, and the Labour Party was in shambles. Yes the 1970s were back with a vengeance as the smell of pot mixed with body odour and when the ‘Wolfies’ hit the stage there was no going back. The only hint of globalisation was the digital cameras and high-tech phones being pointed at the stage.

The sound, the song-titles, the artwork, and even the look of Wolfmother is so retro that they make Jet look original. But it’s done so well and so thoroughly that it is enjoyable and loved by the crowd. Almost like playing dress-up, the whole crowd got to pretend for an hour and a half, that despite the misfortunate timing of their birth, that they were livin’ in the ‘70s and living it up well.

Combining Led Zeppelin riffs, Black Sabbath feedback, Pink Floyd keys, with a dash of Deep Purple, and Who’s Next era The Who thrown in for good measure, Wolfmother threw out their music to a crowd eagerly lapping it up. Playing either all covers or no covers, my best guess is all the songs were Wolfmother ‘originals’ from the debut self-titled longplayer, on which all of the songs from last year’s Woman EP feature. 

As the opening riff of Dimension started the set, it was evident that the title of ‘next big thing’ was not misplaced. The crowd surfing began and the bouncers attempted in vain to pull the offenders from the sea of skin and sweat, as temperatures in the Tivoli soared.

ARIA nominated single Woman induced scream-a-longs and Apple Tree was a crowd highlight. The last song before the encore was new single Mind’s Eye, which featured a psychedelic keyboard solo that nearly caused a riot.

When the lights went up and the time transportation returned the full venue to 2005, the crowd looked around bewildered by what they had just experienced. Because it seems Wolfmother is more than just a band, it’s a lifestyle.