The Wombats - Red Hill Auditorium, 15th November 2018
Words: Todd Lockley
The last two times The Wombats performed in Perth it was an absolute pleasure to see them. This time not so much, but through no fault of their own.
Holding the concert on a Thursday evening at Red Hill Auditorium was ambitious and proved a logistical nightmare for most attending. However, three different line up times, eventually settling on a 10pm kick off for the headliners, had a lot of people pulling the pin and resulted in a major flood of cheap tickets on the event page.
Cloud Control kicked things off to a minimal crowd. Tripe J hit There's Nothing In The Water was well received. Unfortunately, a nice cover of The Cranberries Dreams brought the first instance of the vocals losing their way amongst the wind tunnel that seems to form now and then on the Red Hill stage.
The visuals for the Wombats set were an instant favourite, with a Wombat's face glowing on the big screen. The band walked out amongst a cloud of fog and jumped into Cheetah Tongue then rainbow swirls greeted Give Me A Try where, once again, the vocals on the night took off with the wind.
There must have been a lot of sick people in attendance as the beautiful synths signalled the return to 1996, and scent of weed (surely medicinal?) filled the amphitheatre, mingling with the melt in your ears harmonies coming from the lads from Liverpool.
The self-proclaimed jet-lag must have worn off a little as front man Matt Murphy became more and more engaging with the crowd. His comment "This is the first time we've played this song live, so please sing along, sing another song if you don't know the words" preceded Ice Cream. "Thank you for being our Western Australian Guinea Pigs!".
Techno Fan was raucous, Emoticons, with awesome "emoticon" cartoons shooting all over the back drop, had Murphy showing the first signs of travel fatigue, and let's just say the gent was up against it. "I feel like I'm having a fight with a camel" he proclaimed as he battled the bugs and dust through Lemon To A Knife Fight.
The dreary I Don't Know Why I Like You But I Do gave most a chance to go to the toilet and get refreshments. The energy levels yo-yo'ed with Your Body Is A Weapon which saw the entire crowd clapping in unison with an extended epic guitar solo to finish off.
"This ones an old one" introduced Moving To New York, and was greeted with the biggest crowd reaction of the night. Jump into the Fog had those magical synths crashing the party once again as the hits signalled the beginning of the end. The theatrical addition of massive balloon balls to bounce around the crowd was very short lived for Tokyo as they flew from the hands of their promoters over the boundary fence and into the Perth night sky, or popping on the cage keeping the under 18's at bay.
Let's Dance To Joy Division was a frenzied way to finish off the main set as the crowd went wild once again for the old stuff "C'mon Perth!" shouted bassist Tord Knudsen, as he, Murphy and drummer Dan Haggis were joined onstage by four partying Wombats (fans in costumes).
After a brief break they returned for a three pronged encore, kicking off with Lethal Combination, then Turn. Absolute flop single Greek Tragedy rounded out the night. Once again our favourite adopted marsupials had shown why they 're headliners all over the world and the best thing to come out of Liverpool since the Beatles!
Holding the concert on a Thursday evening at Red Hill Auditorium was ambitious and proved a logistical nightmare for most attending. However, three different line up times, eventually settling on a 10pm kick off for the headliners, had a lot of people pulling the pin and resulted in a major flood of cheap tickets on the event page.
Cloud Control kicked things off to a minimal crowd. Tripe J hit There's Nothing In The Water was well received. Unfortunately, a nice cover of The Cranberries Dreams brought the first instance of the vocals losing their way amongst the wind tunnel that seems to form now and then on the Red Hill stage.
The visuals for the Wombats set were an instant favourite, with a Wombat's face glowing on the big screen. The band walked out amongst a cloud of fog and jumped into Cheetah Tongue then rainbow swirls greeted Give Me A Try where, once again, the vocals on the night took off with the wind.
There must have been a lot of sick people in attendance as the beautiful synths signalled the return to 1996, and scent of weed (surely medicinal?) filled the amphitheatre, mingling with the melt in your ears harmonies coming from the lads from Liverpool.
The self-proclaimed jet-lag must have worn off a little as front man Matt Murphy became more and more engaging with the crowd. His comment "This is the first time we've played this song live, so please sing along, sing another song if you don't know the words" preceded Ice Cream. "Thank you for being our Western Australian Guinea Pigs!".
Techno Fan was raucous, Emoticons, with awesome "emoticon" cartoons shooting all over the back drop, had Murphy showing the first signs of travel fatigue, and let's just say the gent was up against it. "I feel like I'm having a fight with a camel" he proclaimed as he battled the bugs and dust through Lemon To A Knife Fight.
The dreary I Don't Know Why I Like You But I Do gave most a chance to go to the toilet and get refreshments. The energy levels yo-yo'ed with Your Body Is A Weapon which saw the entire crowd clapping in unison with an extended epic guitar solo to finish off.
"This ones an old one" introduced Moving To New York, and was greeted with the biggest crowd reaction of the night. Jump into the Fog had those magical synths crashing the party once again as the hits signalled the beginning of the end. The theatrical addition of massive balloon balls to bounce around the crowd was very short lived for Tokyo as they flew from the hands of their promoters over the boundary fence and into the Perth night sky, or popping on the cage keeping the under 18's at bay.
Let's Dance To Joy Division was a frenzied way to finish off the main set as the crowd went wild once again for the old stuff "C'mon Perth!" shouted bassist Tord Knudsen, as he, Murphy and drummer Dan Haggis were joined onstage by four partying Wombats (fans in costumes).
After a brief break they returned for a three pronged encore, kicking off with Lethal Combination, then Turn. Absolute flop single Greek Tragedy rounded out the night. Once again our favourite adopted marsupials had shown why they 're headliners all over the world and the best thing to come out of Liverpool since the Beatles!