Phillyist Framed Returns!
Whole Hog Is All Heart
Across the Ist-a-Verse
Yo, Philly in the News
Photoist
Last night, as threatened, this Phillyist was there to witness the first show of Wolfmother's American tour, which went down right here in Philadelphia, PA at the historic and legendary Electric Factory. Opening for Wolfmother were two bands: Silversun Pickups and Dead Meadow. I arrived perhaps a few minutes after the 8 o'clock start time and was stunned to see that the first of those bands, Silversun Pickups, had already taken the stage. A prompt rock show?! Unheard of! Luckily, I don't think I missed any of the Pickups' set, which was fantastic. They were the one band who'd seemed a bit out of place on this bill, as on their recent full-length Carnavas, which I've been enjoying, they sound softer and more indie pop-oriented than Wolfmother and Dead Meadow. But whether it was the company they were keeping, or whether it was just the effect of playing live, they were way more metal last night than in their recorded performances, with guitarist/lead singer Brian Aubert head-banging, crawling on the floor, thrashing away on his guitar, and screaming the lyrics into the mic. Bassist Nikki Monniger seemed amused by his antics, and took a slightly calmer approach to her strong and steady playing. But the whole band was tight and sounded great, churning out rocking performances of their songs that were even better than the versions recorded on the album.
Next up was Dead Meadow, a three-piece act (guitar, bass, drums) slightly more in the vein of Wolfmother - by which we mean, '70s-style hard rock - but with a slower-paced, more droning sound. They have a love of the colored blinking lights, the smoke machine, and the lengthy, reverb-laden guitar jams. It's the kind of music we hear is even better when you're on acid. This clean and sober young gentleman managed to enjoy it anyway, even if occasionally those guitar jams did seem to go on perhaps a bit too long. The rest of the crowd seemed to enjoy both opening acts as much as, or more than, myself, as they were far more appreciative and well-behaved throughout than I have come to expect from the folks at the Electric Factory; instead of heckling, there were enthusiastic cheers! The bands seemed pleasantly surprised, and very grateful.
And then finally, there was headliner Wolfmother.
More after the jump...
Wolfmother is a rock band, pure and simple, and they acted the part last night, leaping and kicking, thrashing and pounding, shaking and swinging, and just generally bringing the house down with a flaming set of retro-blues-metal. Andrew Stockdale, with his impressive head of curly hair, leads the pack on vocals and guitar, and is joined by Chris Ross on bass and keyboard, and Myles Heskett on drums. Unless I'm mistaken, the boys played every single track off of their recently released, very impressive self-titled debut full-length, and even tacked on one more song (a cover that I'll talk more about later). And they nailed every song, especially the magnificent "Woman." Although I was getting tired by the end of their performance (hey, I had a long day), they never slowed down for a moment, slamming the drums with precise brutality, tearing at their guitars, beating the keyboard. Speaking of which: Ross treated his keyboard pretty poorly, but with good reason - just pressing keys is nowhere near metal enough. So Ross tilted the keyboard, tipped it on its side, crawled underneath it, and even jumped on top of it, after taking a flying leap down from the drum kit's raised platform. Stockdale was just as determined to put on a good show, and thus performed his share of instrument abuse, swinging, shaking and throwing his guitar about, besides also twirling his mic on the end of its cord.
But these guys aren't just about the metal antics; they're also about playing really good, blues-inspired, Led Zeppelin/Black Sabbath-style hard rock. And hey, about Led Zeppelin. I happened to be standing next to the sound board during the show, where Wolfmother's entire set list had been posted, encores and all. The second to last line in the list of encores read, "Communication Breakdown?" "Oh please, oh please," I thought. And indeed, Wolfmother turned that question mark into an exclamation point, stomping on the gas and zooming into a fantastic, full throttle cover of the Zep classic that was easily the highlight of the show. The song fit into their set like it was meant to be there, and they played it like they were born to play it. I can't think of a higher compliment than that.
Photo, complete with very appropriate red-eye symbolizing the demon of metal that lives inside Andrew Stockdale, by Flickr user AngryCitizen.org
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Post a comment (Comment Policy)