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The Wombats // Photo – Kerrie Geier Photography

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THE WOMBATS
+ Tyne-James Organ
@ Hindley Street Music Hall,
Adelaide
1st December 2022
(Live Review)

Review by Colin Reid

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The Wombats // Photo – Kerrie Geier Photography

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It isn’t to often that a venue is getting close to full for a support act but it was on Thursday night at Adelaide’s Hindley Street Music Hall for Tyne James-Organ. He is a great front man sporting cool tattoos and is very personable and engaging. The band’s music is clearly well known by the crowd.  They garner a good response from the very start of their set with the sizeable crowd adopting a gentle sway, nodding their heads and singing along with the tracks. He confesses that he is so excited being a huge Wombats fan and only knowing that they had the support slot a week ago.  The band are good, the Black Flag t-shirt wearing bass player’s and driving them on with a sound that was a little reminiscent of Gang of Youths.  Tyne complains about the timing of the flights ‘we had to get up at bum f#%k o’clock to get here and are so full of coffee right now’ and ‘next time we come we need to have more time to explore Adelaide. We’re from The Gong (Woolongong) and love the beach, where should we go?’ he asks ‘Maslin’s’ a wag in the crowd replies. No doubt Tyne doesn’t know that it is a nudist beach!

Mid set the rest of the band leaves Tyne on stage with just an acoustic guitar to play a song, “Heal You” that really showcased his vocal talent and emotional quality. You won’t know this song he says but amazingly there were people around me who did and sang it’s powerful lyrics through silent mouths. To bring us back up the band launch into their cover of The Kooks “Naïve” recorded for Triple Js Like a Version ‘let’s dance’ engages Tyne and we respond enthusiastically.

The set builds and builds, the band are great closing out the set with a blistering version of their single ‘Not Ready For Love’. The best support band I’ve seen in ages. There is a line in a Fauves song that goes ‘its been a long time that I’ve felt that trill, a first on band that I’ve managed to sit though’. Tyne James-Organ is that thrill.  Not sure if I was the main act that I would want to book him to be my support, he is that good that you have to be on top of game to outshine him.

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Tyne-James Organ // Photo – Kerrie Geier Photography

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Tyne-James Organ // Photo – Kerrie Geier Photography

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During the interval the crowd swells, possibly not a sell out but it must be pretty close to it.  We laughingly join in with sing-a-longs to “Teenage Dirtbag”, “Blink 182” and “Hey Ya”, there is such a good feeling it the room such expectation and desire to see “The Wombats” even though they were only here 6 months ago. They are a great live band that clearly loves playing and loves coming to Australia and the crowd appreciates them adding extra cities into a tour that is predominately around the “Spilt Milk” Festival.

The lights dim and The Wombats hit the stage launching into a huge version of their early single “Moving To New York”. So many of their song feature interesting lyrics and I simply love that he is moving to the city that never sleeps because he has problems sleeping.  “Flip Me Upside Down” is even bigger.  The crowd loves them, arms in the air as they dance happily along with every track cheering every song like the return of a best mate clapping in the intros, singing the first lines for the band and generally loving ever minute of it.  Even tracks that you might not expect to go off are bangers the crowd so engaged and the band on fire.  They are briefly joined on stage by a wombat wearing a sparkly jacket playing a trombone, it is great fun.

‘Their will be a lot of talk tonight about lemons’ jokes lead singer Matthew Murphy and the whole crowd have their hands above heads clapping to “Pink Lemonade”.  “Kill the Director” is another massive track with the crowd singing the intro and Matthew holding the mic over the audience as we sing ‘this is no Bridget Jones (kill the director)’ at full voice.  It is my favourite track of theirs and I just loved it and so did the whole room, just brilliant.

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The Wombats // Photo – Kerrie Geier Photography

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The Wombats // Photo – Kerrie Geier Photography

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Everyone is enraptured, everyone knows all the words, everyone is singing along with “This Car Drives All By Itself” before Matthew announces that it is time to take it up a notch! How could that be possible? More lemons is the answer! “Lemon To A Knife Fight” simply goes off.  Overseas this is billed as an all the hits tour and I’m really glad that we are getting it in its entirety as I surely some of the set would have to be cut for a festival. “Tokyo” (Vampires and Wolves) is another massive number and yet the set shows no sign of stopping it instead to juggernauts ever onwards. “Keep it up Adelaide” were are encouraged from the stage and we do so joyously. Bass player Tord pounds over every centimetre of the stage as hard as he is playing his bass guitar.

Sadly it has to come towards the end. Drummer Dan jokes with us that they are going to pretend, as they always do, that this is their last song as they leave the regular set with “Greek Tragedy”.  The crowd calls out for one more song but we get three. “Method to The Madness” starts slow, almost like a metaphor for a wind down at the end of the gig before it builds and builds into a tsunami wall of sound. Probably their most well known song “Lets Dance To Joy Division” sends the crowd to new heights. Tord abandons his bass to concentrate on singing, three wombat dressed figures join the band and we sing along with passion.  I was lucky enough to see Peter Hook and The Light play two of his Joy Division albums in their entirety at The Gov on Sunday and hearing the Wombats Joy Division song tonight makes a nice book end to the week.  The show closes with “Turn” the band warmly acknowledge the crowd, Dan passing his drum sticks into the crowd and Tord handing out the set lists to those lucky enough to be on the front row.

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The Wombats // Photo – Kerrie Geier Photography

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The Wombats // Photo – Kerrie Geier Photography

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It was a fabulous gig, so much fun and to be able to share it with my 24 year old daughter made it even more memorable. There is another of their interesting, quirky lyrics that says ‘if you remember this tomorrow then you’re doing it wrong’ but we will all remember this gig for a long time and for all the right reasons, it was done right.

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IS THIS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO FEEL LIKE THIS? EP OUT NOW
Buy / stream here

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‘Is This What It Feels Like
To Feel Like This?’
Tracklist

I Think My Mind Has Made Its Mind Up
Dressed To Kill
Demon
Is This What It Feels Like To Feel Like This?
Same Old Damage
Good Idea At The Time

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THE WOMBATS
Australian Tour dates:

Tickets here

Sun 27 Nov – Palais Theatre, Melbourne
Thur 1 Dec – Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide
Tue 6 Dec – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
Fri 9 Dec – Bar on the Hill, Newcastle
Sun 11 Dec – Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Sydney

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Australian Festival Dates:

Sat 26 Nov – Spilt Milk, Canberra
Sat 3 Dec – Spilt Milk, Ballarat
Sun 4 Dec – Spilt Milk, Gold Coast

Check out KERRIE GEIER’s gallery of this event HERE

Follow THE WOMBATS
Website – Instagram – Facebook
Spotify – Twitter

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The Wombats // Photo – Kerrie Geier Photography

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Press Release 20th November 2022 (below) HERE

THE WOMBATS
release new EP
IS THIS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
TO FEEL LIKE THIS?

+ Single
DRESSED TO KILL
out now

+ Australian tour
starts next week

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The Wombats

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AMNPLIFY – DB