Wolfmother @ HammersmithApollo, London, (06/02/07)

Mon 12th Feb, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Our little boys are all growed up. I remember, back in the day, seeing the highly hyped Mother at the teeny weeny Candy’s Apartment in Kings Cross. So bright eyed were these lot that their popularity outstripped their output and their short set included an encore which was simply a replay of Woman.

Well, fast forward a couple of years and they’re regularly filling up lauded London venues such as Brixton Academy, the Astoria and on this occasion the Hammersmith Apollo – two nights in a row. Having seen the retro rockers several times I wasn’t exactly beside myself on the night, especially since it seems they have been touring so much that they’ve forgotten that bands need to come up with new songs occasionally too. Their gigs had become a bit formulaic: good fun, but not exactly life changing.

No, what I was excited about was seeing support Wolf and Cub, having heard only good things about them resonate from across the seas. Unfortunately a combination of the ridiculously early London curfew times and the fact that we discovered a tapas bar serving great food and cheap beer en route meant that we missed the support and arrived just as the papa wolves were taking the stage.

Straight into Dimension, and the large packed theatre was immediately transformed into a giant pub. Mind’s Eye, White Unicorn, what was I thinking? Give them their due credit, these guys bloody rock. Where Eagles Have Been, Woman, this music sounds so much better with a smoke in one hand and a beer in the other. Awesome. Andrew is going all out with guitar solos, the crowd is loving it and they seem energised – this is not just another gig. The guys are there, in the moment, and we can tell and it’s fantastic.

Because their music is easy to listen (rock) to it’s easy to assume that it’s easy to create. Tonight I realised how wrong that is, these guys are actually really damn good musicians and they have that all important ingredient that truly great bands should have – chemistry. And they have the songs too, every one of them good. There’s no filler with Wolfmother, and when they encore with songs that I’d totally forgotten about (Colossal, Joker and the Thief) I promise myself to never write them off again. Because tonight, for the first time, they blew my mind. Ironically or not, they did it with a cover of Communication Breakdown which was as impressive and energetic as it was egoless. With their Grammy win this week, it’s clear their reign is going to continue. And as a reborn convert I’ll be backing them all the way.