Wolf Alice, Glasgow review: 'kept the audience guessing'
Wolf Alice covered just about every rock base during this impressive Glasgow show, writes David Pollock
Wolf Alice, Hydro, Glasgow ★★★★
“This song is about being all things at once,” said Wolf Alice’s singer Ellie Rowsell, before the band played their recent single The Sofa - a rare moment of mid-paced calm. “I'm not one thing, I'm always learning, always changing. Sometimes I like camomile tea, sometimes I like Buckfast.”
That won her a big cheer from the packed Hydro crowd, and it also summed up Wolf Alice’s appeal right now, after 15 years together and ten since their first album. With a back catalogue deserving of this first arena tour (promoting their acclaimed fourth album, The Clearing) they impressively – and credibly – covered just about every rock base.
Their set took in the poppy disco-ball ballad to female love Just Two Girls, the sweet, early-career hymn to friendship Bros and the unmistakable closing anthem Don’t Delete the Kisses , while also encompassing the nihilistic, ugly thrash of Yuk Foo, as barked into a megaphone by Rowsell, and the sheer careening punk anger of Play the Greatest Hits. The combination kept the audience guessing.
READ MORE: Calum Bowie, Glasgow review: 'emotional'
Alongside Wolf Alice’s musical development, Rowsell has also graduated into a proper arena rock star. In black leotard with printed angel wings and black leather cowboy boots, she projected charisma and emotional dexterity; a little bit Kate Bush, a little Florence Welch, a lot Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers.
From her screaming finale to Formidable Cool, to the almost musical theatre emotion of Leaning Against the Wall, to her raw vocal fragility on the acoustic Safe from Heartbreak (if you never fall in love) and the piano ballad Play It Out, and her flying V guitar posing on noisy, melodic rockers Giant Peach and Smile, she was born for a stage like this. The stark, David Lynchian Delicious Things saw her play on an up-lit revolving platform, really hammering home that she was the centre of attention.
“It feels like we were in King Tut’s about ten minutes ago, so this is incredible,” declared Johnny Rotten lookalike bassist Theo Ellis, a visual counterpoint to solo-loving, Kings of Leon-looking guitarist Joff Oddie. They’ll be in stadiums next.
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