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A glorious Saturday afternoon and the wombats have played their second show of the weekend at the Static Gallery, and thank god for this second matinee performance. The first gig would have clashed with the fantastic Darwin Deez playing at Mojo, and it would have been a wretch to miss either.
Both shows at the static gallery were a sell out for the local lads who were making their first return home since playing at the Echo arena in 2008, they have travelled the world 10 times over since.
The Static Gallery was already simmering downstairs as support band Life Cycle finished off their set to a huge round of cheers from a vocal crowd.
A quick change on stage and it was high time for The Wombats to show their faces, and the place erupted into a carcophony of noise when they did.
It all kicked off with the huge track Kill the Director, which was a great way to start proceedings and get the crowd up for a major party.
The humidity was turned up a notch as the boys played into Party in a Forest, which causes a sect of smitten female fans to chant “WE LOVE YOU!” adoringly towards the boys on stage who greeted the complements with a diffident smile.
Tokyo was next up which is The Wombats latest single and yet one more singalong friendly tune to add to the repertoire.
We also get a sneak preview of four other new songs, namely Patricia the stripper, Techno fan, Schumacher the champagne and Jump into fog all from the forthcoming album.
Matthew says with a smile, sweat dripping from his chin, while he fidgets with his mic: “We don’t really know how to play the new songs live just yet sorry”, which gets a laugh and endears them further to the crowd.
Coming to the end of the set and ten songs down the line we had two major hits still to take off. The first of them, Moving to New York, the band seem to step it up another gear and the crowd certainly followed suit as the energy was infectious.
The mass of people were singing along happily as Matt shouted out: “Hands in the Air” which everyone dutifully obeyed and the dance floor was threshing.
Matt’s back on the mic with a towel strewn around his neck: “Do you want us to play one more for you?”, with the affirmative shouted back.
Dan on drums then perked up and said: “We had this elaborate encore thing planned but its just so hot and hard to get off stage, so lets just, you know……..Lets dance to joy Division”.
The crowd go absolutely mental here, not just the crowd but also the band go bonkers, with Tord hanging from the rafters, jumping around on stage while still playing his bass like a maniac.
An energetic finish to a great set, the lads make a quick exit to the coolness of their dressing room and the fans poured out onto the street outside.