Wolf Alice, best British Group at the 2022 Brit Awards finally arrived in Liverpool on Tuesday night!
The music mad city even welcomed the band with nice weather which was a great change to last week when winds and rain battered north west of England. It’s been quite a wait, this sold-out tour has been delayed due to Covid restrictions and the gig moved from January. Needless to say the band are raring to go!
But before the main attraction of the evening, we had pleasure of listening to their support act. Matt Maltese an English singer-songwriter who is promoting his 3rd album ‘Good Morning, It’s Now Tomorrow’
A very laid back and mellow sound that fills the room and his performance was great. Although I’m not convinced that he was the right choice to support a guitar rock band…
Finally, it was time for Wolf Alice. When Ellie Rowsell and the rest of the band appeared on stage the crowd went crazy! Above the excited screams that filled Mountford Hall we could just about hear ‘Smile‘ from their new album ‘Blue Weekend‘. Cool bright lighting and stroboscope mixed with Shoegaze guitars and Theo’s Ellis pulsating base. The next brace of songs were ‘You are the Germ’ and ‘Formidable Cool’. The crowd was ecstatic!
After the third song, the band slowed down the pace slightly and presented a much more mellow sound. The crowd really love the vibe and you could see everyone’s happy faces singing along to ‘Delicious Thing’ and ‘Lipstick on the glass’.
‘We like that kind of energy on Tuesday evening’ said bassist Theo Ellis after the crowd went crazy pumping up and down from back to front of the room during ‘Bros’ and ‘Play the greatest hits’.
The genius use of minimalist lighting combined beautifully with the guitar sound to create a multimedia feast.
Ellie said hello to a long standing fan which was her first interaction with the crowd. There’s nothing better than seeing your favourite band progressing all the way from a sweaty basement club to a concert hall full of emotional fans like today.
‘Visions of a Life’ and ‘Moaning Lisa smile’ forced even the oldest fans to wave (or bang) their heads and move in rhythm with the music.
Ellie’s vocal carried around the space during ‘No hard feelings’ allowing the audience to catch their breath. Ellie’s stage presence is off the chart and the crowd definitely enjoyed to sing along with her.
The grungy ‘Giant peach’ which quickly shifted the energy and an explosion of pulsating lights and strobes mixed with Ellie’s piercing vocal and dynamic guitar riffs, was the perfect finale to the 16 song set.
After a short break….
The band came back for an encore with two more songs; ‘The last man on earth’ and ‘Don’t delete kisses’ with everybody in the audience on backing vocals. Those two songs reinforced what an amazing front woman Ellie is and how much more confident and sure of her vocal abilities she is since the release of the debut album.
Their progress is astonishing and, on the night, they proved that they fully deserved the tag of the best band in United Kingdom and are ready to headline some of the biggest festivals in the world.
Words and pictures: Tom Adam @tomadamspics