THE WOMBATS

+ VERGE COLLECTION

@ Metro City [11/05/17] (Live Review)

Some may consider it destiny that UK born vocalist and guitarist Matthew Murphy and drummer Dan Haggis crossed paths with Norwegian-born bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen while studying at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts in back in 2003.

Nearing the end of their International tour for their 10th anniversary of their 2007 album A Guide to: Love, Loss and Desperation (not depression) The Wombats were kind enough to re-visit the slightly off-the-map city of Perth, Western Australia.

Photo by KLowe Photography

Following an epic performance at Sydney Opera House only a few nights earlier which saw several fans dressed in wombats costumes dancing on stage, I knew I’d be strapped in for a stellar show.

With supports from local rockers Verge Collection bringing some rad tunes, the night was off to a killer start. The four piece who have experienced a whirlwind of success of their own since their 2013 Single Our Place and festival slot at Southbound 2016, couldn’t have been a more pleased to support the well-loved UK trio.

Photo by KLowe Photography

The local rockers dropped some of their latest tunes from their newest EP Open Plan Living including Class of ’09 and Postcodes, which have received a bunch of love from Triple-j listeners since September 2016.

After Verge Collection nailed their set, a mix of excitement and nerves filled the air. Although lucky for punters, Metro City’s audio engineers had some stellar music in store to fill in the gaps, dropping tracks like Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out and LCD Soundsystem’s Daft Punk Is Playing At My House as well as Hot Chip’s tune Over and Over, really getting crowds amped up.

Set to kick off at around 9:30pm, The Wombats had die-hard fans waiting several minutes in anticipation for their set. Finally the trio kicked things off in style with their popular track Kill The Director followed by Moving To New York.

Photo by KLowe Photography

It became evident early on that these Liverpool boys who made it to the big time, are still as close off-stage as they are on-stage at the same time as they delivered an electric set.

With Knudsen and his wife having just welcomed a beautiful new-born into their little family, he didn’t show any signs of being homesick on-stage during the bands performance.

Up next was their track 1996 of their 2011 album This Modern Glitch before dropping a crowd favourite from their 2015 LP Give Me A Try.

Photo by KLowe Photography

Although it wasn’t long before audiences were treated to the all-time favourite 2011 hit Single Jump Into The Fog. But it was Techno Fan followed shortly after by their Tokyo, which had crowds begging for more.

Before long the trio we’re back on stage with a just few encore tracks including the more somber tones of Isabel and Greek tragedy off their 2015 album Glitterbug. Although The Wombat’s show wasn’t complete without fans losing their absolute s#*t over their 2007 Single Let’s Dance To Joy Division, which rounded the night out on a high note. Kudos.