Wolfmother is the kind of band capable of reaffirming one's love of rock music. Rather than expending energy on image - save singer Andrew Stockdale's impressive afro - the Aussie trio is a straightforward rock machine, delivering sledgehammer riffs and bombastic songs that recall the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and, when bassist Chris Ross hops onto his keyboard, Deep Purple. Of course, most of Wolfmother's fans are too young to know those musical reference points.
They're more familiar with the band through its presence on the "Guitar Hero" video game and through the songs populating the band's 2006 self-titled breakthrough album. Even though Stockdale, Ross and drummer Myles Heskett have reportedly been working on a new set of songs, most of the set at Tuesday's packed show at In the Venue came from that debut. The opening "Dimension" set the standard for the night, with Stockdale creating some otherworldly shrieks before the rhythm section kicked in.
Stockdale is a maniacal frontman, his lanky frame lurching all over the stage as he played guitar and switched between a microphone at stage front and another, effects-laden mic in the back near Heskett's drum kit. Stockdale briefly picked up a double-neck guitar before deciding against using it for "White Unicorn," a borderline-prog song that kicked off with some driving drum flourishes before exploding into a sprawling, metal-tinged "You'll have to forgive us if we're getting carried away," Stockdale said four songs into the show. "I think the altitude has gone to our heads.
" Stockdale was correct in assessing the energy onstage; Ross was just as entertaining to watch as the singer, whether delivering a heavy-funk bass line to "Pyramid" or beating on his keyboards at strategic points in several songs. "Where Eagles Have Been" showed the band's lighter side, at least briefly, as Stockdale crooned the opening lines accompanied only by his own guitar. Ross' organ fills and Heskett's drums soon joined the fray and turned the song into an extended workout for several minutes.
Wolfmother stretched a lot of songs well beyond the running-times of their recorded versions, but it never felt like the band was just filling time. They have a psychedelic streak that runs parallel to their metal riffs and a pop-friendly gift for melody, and the trio spent several songs exploring all their strengths. "Witchcraft" featured granite-hard, sludgy riffs that would do Tony Iommi proud, while "Tales" was another nice tempo-shift into mellower fare and the hit "Woman" had the crowd in a frenzy for all Tuesday's show proved this is one mother worth listening to for years to come.
News RSS