Review by Alan Steenson for MPM
Saturday night, Belfast, outdoor gig and rain… well there’s a surprise.
The rain had been doing its best earlier in the evening to remind everyone that summer in Belfast is largely a marketing exercise, but thankfully it stopped in time for Wolf Alice to take to the stage at Custom House Square.
Wolf Alice are one of those bands that have been on my radar for quite a while and whilst I knew a good selection of their songs, I wouldn’t claim to be the person standing beside you who can tell you what colour vinyl the Japanese B-side was released on… so I was interested to see what they could actually deliver live.
As it turned out… quite a lot.
The first thing that struck me was the stage. A huge star dominated the backdrop with a glitterball hanging above it (more on that later) and illuminated steps built into the centre. With ethereal music playing, the band made their way onto stage before Ellie Rowsell appeared front and centre in front of the star,
As entrances go it was bloody impressive.
Ellie slowly made her way down the steps, which illuminated as she descended, before taking her place out front and launching into Bloom Baby Bloom.
Straight away it became obvious that the stage wasn’t simply there to give the band somewhere to stand. It was going to be used throughout the evening as part of the performance, and whoever designed the lighting had certainly earned their money.
The drums and keyboards where on the riser left and right to the star so not the usual live set up for most bands.
White Horses followed, and another thing that immediately stood out was Joel Amey adding vocals from behind the drum kit. Singing whilst playing drums is one of those things I have always thought looks remarkably difficult… I struggle to walk upstairs and talk at the same time, so fair play.
Ellie strapped on a guitar and the effects added another layer to what was already a very full live sound, with Wolf Alice sounding considerably bigger than I expected.
The lighting really started to come into its own as the set developed. Slow tracking beams moved across the stage before strobes kicked in during choruses, with silhouettes appearing against the huge star behind them. It wasn’t simply a case of pointing every light at the audience and hoping for the best either; different songs were being given a completely different visual feel.
Formidable Cool sounded particularly good in this setting before How Can I Make It OK? brought one of those moments where the crowd needed very little encouragement to join in.
And that’s when you realise how many Wolf Alice songs you actually know.
The band seemed genuinely relaxed too, with Ellie chatting easily to the Belfast crowd rather than simply firing through the set. At one point she turned her attention to the apartments overlooking Custom House Square, essentially giving the people hanging out of windows their own private Wolf Alice house party.
Not a bad Saturday night if you happen to live there.
Then somebody turned on the glitterball.
Jesus.
I’d written in my notes at the time that the “glitterball lit up was bloody impressive and something every gig should have” and having looked at it again I stand by that statement.
The entire huge star suddenly appeared covered in thousands of tiny points of reflected light, spreading out across the stage and into Custom House Square crowd. With Ellie standing out front underneath it, it was one of those simple effects that looked absolutely spectacular.
I’ve therefore decided every band should now have one.
Metallica… glitterball.
Foo Fighters… glitterball.
Oasis… nope they don’t deserve glitterballs
The mood changed again as Ellie headed back up the illuminated steps with an acoustic guitar being introduced and yellow spots filled the stage with a pink light picking her out before the whole thing eventually changed again with purple strobes and a spot hitting the drums.
That constant changing of the visual mood was probably one of my favourite parts of the evening because it complemented the music rather than distracting from it.
And Wolf Alice are certainly not a band with one particular sound.
At times they can sound dreamy and almost delicate before somebody apparently flicks a switch and the guitars come crashing back in. There were indie moments, grunge, pop, some surprisingly heavy sections and even bits that had an almost glam-rock feel to them. With hints of Pat Benatar and Alison Goldfrapp on certain songs.
Bros was simply great live.
There’s sometimes very little point in trying to invent a clever description when a song just works, and this did.
The Sofa changed things again and brought the slower hand waving from the crowd, arms moving from side to side throughout Custom House Square while the stage took on another completely different appearance.
The blue lighting of the following section gave everything an almost glam-rock appearance before the colour palette changed yet again.
By Smile, everything had gone green.
The huge star, smoke and lighting made the whole stage look completely different again while Theo Ellis took his opportunity to throw a few shapes on the illuminated steps with his bass.
What was becoming increasingly obvious was just how polished Wolf Alice are as a live band.
Polished sometimes sounds like a criticism because it can mean something has become too slick or lost its edge, but that wasn’t the case here. The songs still had plenty of bite when required and there was enough looseness and interaction between the band members that it never felt like watching four people rigidly following a production script.
Ellie in particular is an interesting front person because she doesn’t seem to need to spend the entire evening demanding attention.
Sometimes she is right out-front commanding the stage, then she’s back on guitar, up those bloody steps again or allowing the rest of the band room to breathe. When the heavier parts arrive she can deliver them, but moments later the whole thing can drop back into something considerably more delicate.
And behind all of that you’ve got a seriously good rhythm section holding the whole thing together.
The crowd also deserves a mention because Custom House Square was packed and, despite our wonderful Northern Irish climate, remained well up for it throughout.
Which brings me neatly back to the weather.
Remember the rain?
Apparently it hadn’t gone home.
It had merely gone for a pint.
Back it came later in the evening and this time with considerably more enthusiasm. Ellie looked out at the increasingly wet Belfast crowd with “are you’re still with us Belfast? “
Of course they bloody were.
This is Belfast.
If we stopped doing things because it was raining the entire country would close around October and reopen sometime in May.
Unfortunately for me this is also where I have to commit probably the greatest sin a gig reviewer can commit…
I left before the end…. In my defence this was something I couldn’t avoid.
So rather than do what would be very easy and look at the setlist afterwards before pretending I stood heroically in the rain witnessing every second of the encore, I didn’t.
I slipped away before the final few songs
Therefore, you won’t be getting a wonderfully detailed description from me of Moaning Lisa Smile or Giant Peach, despite them appearing on the setlist, because I wasn’t standing there to hear them and I’m certainly not going to review something I didn’t see. The setlist confirms they were scheduled as the closing numbers.
What I can review is what came before it, and there was more than enough there to understand why Wolf Alice have become such a formidable live band.
I went into Custom House Square expecting a good indie/alternative rock gig.
What surprised me was the scale of it.
This felt like a proper show.
The enormous star, illuminated staircase, projections, strobes, changing colours and yes I’m mentioning the bloody thing again, magnificent glitterball could easily have overwhelmed a lesser band.
Instead, Wolf Alice filled it.
More importantly, underneath all the shiny stuff was a band capable of moving between quiet, almost ethereal sections and huge walls of guitar without either sounding forced.
They also looked like they were enjoying themselves, and that matters. There was a genuine warmth in the interaction with Belfast rather than the usual rehearsed “Hello insert-city-name-here!” nonsense.
So yes, I left early.
Yes, I got wet.
And yes, I probably should have stayed for Giant Peach.
But I also discovered that Wolf Alice are considerably better live than I expected, witnessed one of the best looking outdoor productions I’ve seen at Custom House Square and learned something extremely important…
Every gig needs a glitterball.
Bloody marvellous.
Photography by Darren McVeigh for MPM
