The principal function of that individual or collective which class themselves or by their function may be defined as entertainers, is to entertain. Here beginneth and endeth the lesson according to Scharfbillig.
What occurred on Friday night at the Rocket Bar was too much self indulgence and harking back to The Song Remains the Same, rather than basing the night on a quick take of Led Zeppelin III.
Wolf & Cub are a phenomenally talented bunch of guys who, as witnessed by their album, really know how to rock out, and are more talented, throw stones at me later, than Wolfmother who are a bit too literal in their homage to the rockers of the psychedelic era for my liking. The difference live however, basing it on Friday’s performance, is that Wolf & Cub haven’t realised that when you listen to the 48 minute version of Dazed and Confused and think it is the best thing you ever heard, you are most probably off your face having the best sex of your life with that as background music at a festival where time has lost its meaning…
On the other hand, when you are in a club and the volume levels have been turned to an uncomfortably high level; the mixing, which for the support bands was intolerable so that I can honestly say I understood not a whit of what was sung for either support, and for the main act was marginally better, you expect intelligible, rocking out reproductions of songs you are familiar with, allowing for some live flare to mix it up for the punters and to dazzle the crowd with musical and vocal ability unmixed and filtered by the recording process. Boys – the twin drum kits is a cool concept, your musical prowess is obvious, you look the part, but for f**k’s sake, open your eyes at least once, stop being all emotional and get rid of those sticks Joel and finish a song, any song, in less that ten minutes.
Having seen Something for Kate a couple of weeks back, you could see what a few years experience, some decent mixing, intelligent playing and some crowd interaction can do to turn a much softer band into better rockers than the Wolf & Cub collective. A bit of a disappointment from a band that obviously do it so well when someone tells them enough is enough, but who didn’t have that control on Friday.
Wolf & Cub Photo Gallery
