The Wombats – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 24th July @ Horden Pavillion, Sydney NSW
The Wombats
Horden Pavillion, Sydney NSW
July 24th, 2018
After another successful run of the Australian festival circuit, indie-darlings The Wombats are back in Sydney to show off their shiny new album and unlike last year, the setting isn’t entirely seated and the boys aren’t in suits. What else are you going to do on a Tuesday?
Predictably not a lot of people had an answer for that and The boys quite easily sold out the Horden. The vibe was quite interesting given the mixed crowd; you had the Splendour Teenagers, still covered in glitter, The old souls, filling the floor with that odd side to side dance that everyone over the age of 30 seems to do at pop concerts (I’m sure you’ve witnessed it before) and of course you had your basic Sydney indie crowd. The variety made for a surprisingly balanced night. Everyone was just there for a good time which is pretty much a guaranteed with The Wombats. They’re reliably consistent in their talent.
I will say after last year, it has become super clear how hot and constraining those suits were. Uninhibited by the formal wear, the boys came bouncing on to stage the moment the beginning riffs of ‘Cheetah Tongue’ rang out and they never wound down. The exhilarating energy felt through the room is so immediate that it became unclear whether the crowd or the band started it, but regardless it set the bar high for the night. The band continued with a slew bangers including pop anthem ‘Give Me A Try’, the forever nostalgic ‘1996’ and crowd-pleaser ‘Kill The Director’.
New tracks‘Black Flamingo’ and ‘White Eyes’ are both well received additions to the band’s repertoire and it’s clear by the energy of both Murphy and Knudsen as they jump around the stage at any given opportunity, that they’re rather proud of the new material. They certainly do it justice. ‘Techno Fan’ and ‘Emoticons’ take the opportunity to take advantage of the Horden Pavillions fantastic lighting show abilities, so much so that it becomes a spectacle of its own.
‘Lemon To A Knife Fight’ is prefaced with a bit of fruit based banter and followed up with Murphy forgetting the first verse of ‘I Don’t Know Why I Like You But I Do’ (but he recovered pretty well so it was fine) At this point the crowd are eating out of the palm of his hand anyway so as long as he didn’t leave the stage, that man could do no wrong. ‘Pink Lemonade’ and ‘Jump Into The Fog’ follow, adding further fuel to the fiery crowd.
‘Moving To New York’ was both introduced and book ended with elevator music (because why the fuck not) and the pre-encore finished up with classic in the making, ‘Lethal Combination’ and fan favourite ‘Lets Dance To Joy Division’.
The night ended with a 3 song encore comprising of ‘Turn’, ‘Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)’ and ‘Greek Tragedy’; There were lasers, confetti, screaming… The classic end to a classically good night.
Revisit our review of The Wombats‘ new album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life right here
Gig Review & Gallery by Bree Vane. Facebook: Weather Vane Visuals
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The Wombats
