To anyone that has seen The Inbetweeners, the croon of late 2000s British indie music will be no stranger.
It was a time where a myriad of bands burst onto the scene with twangy energetic riffs and lyrics of parties, messing up, and late teenage love. There was a certain desperation behind the sound, and it’s something which can’t really be replicated today.
The Wombats were one such band to come out of this era, with their debut album ‘A Guide To Love, Loss, and Depression’ featuring heavily on the soundtrack of the aforementioned Inbetweeners. It’s been a long time since 2007, and the band aren’t going away any time soon after just dropping their latest album ‘Oh! The Ocean’, and now they’re touring that new record across the UK and Europe, with a stint in the US at the end of the year.
The OVO Hydro in Glasgow was to be one of their last shows in the UK before heading to Europe, and the Merseyside band brought Red Rum Club and Everything Everything along with them for the arena show.
“We’re Red Rum Club, we’re here to warm you lot up and get you moving”. A six-piece also hailing from Merseyside, the band delivered on their promise of getting the crowd moving. Blending those stereotypical twangy indie guitars along with something slightly heavier, and incorporating a trumpet into their catchy hooks, the Glasgow crowd were introduced to a real treat of an opener for the evening.
Everything Everything took the stage next, and in an almost certainly pre-conceived choice, the band demonstrated the more electronic side of the very act they were opening for. Thrumming guitar licks and trance-heavy synths came together with soft vocals to form a wicked soundscape.
And then came the main event, with The Wombats wasting no time and opening immediately with the first track off their new album ‘Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come’, a very tongue-in-cheek choice to say the least. “Hi Glasgow, how are you all?” bellowed frontman Matt Murphy before jumping into their 2007 hit ‘Moving To New York’, the crowd roaring with the first strum of the now iconic indie song.
Choosing to stick to their newer catalogue for the first half of the show, the Glasgow crowd was baying for more with every song that finished. “Since you guys are all warmed up now, we’re going to do some a capella now.” The band delivered with ‘Tales Of Girls, Boys, And Marsupials’, the opening track from their debut album, and following up with ‘Kill The Director’, another song which skyrocketed them to recognition in 2007.
“This spaceship is about to take off and we’re going to go all the way to Tokyo, and we’re going to have a big rave.” The crowd catching the hint and the synths blared out for ‘Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)’, a hit song from the bands second album ‘This Modern Glitch’.
“Right, it’s just bangers from here on out”. The end of the main set was approaching, and the trio were determined to send the Glasgow crowd home with smiles on their faces. The crowd swooned to ‘Pink Lemonade’ and ‘If You Ever Leave I’m Coming With You’, and then it was announced that the band would play their fake final song.
“This is a bonus track on our sixth album, we hope you like it”. Sarcasm of course, as the opening clang of ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ filled the room, and a hearty roar with it. The Wombat mascots took to the stage, with confetti cannons and strobe lights beaming in the final moments of the song.
In a somewhat unusual move, the band’s encore didn’t contain any songs from their debut release. ‘Can’t Say No’, ‘Turn’, and the hit ‘Greek Tragedy’ were the chosen songs, each met with rapturous applause. Balloons fell from the Hydro ceiling and the band took their bows, with the Glasgow crowd still demanding more in what was already an impressively long set at an hour and forty minutes.
Throughout their energetic set, the band displayed what they really represent as a trio. I mentioned that sense of desperation present in British indie music, and how it’s been virtually lost to the genre. But even though The Wombats have elevated their sound as they’ve grown, incorporating synths and drum machines, that desperation hasn’t truly been lost. Despite the high energy and upbeat rhythms, there’s that very earnest desperation in almost every lyric uttered. It isn’t something that can really be taught or mimicked, but rather an inherent element in a band’s sound, and The Wombats have that in spades.
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