The Wombats

“Nostalgia sells” is a big statement that many music observers may make when looking at the current touring climate. Bands that people who are now in their 30s grew up on have been popping up with increased regularity across the UK ever since the live music comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic. Playing to these demands are Liverpool-based The Wombats, who have spent all year playing the biggest shows of their career, including a major headline show at the O2 Arena in London. Celebrating reaching the tail end of a year where they released their sixth studio album, “Oh, The Ocean”, the group returned to the Midlands to help mend those winter blues that many have been facing. And mend them they sure did, with an eclectic mix of bangers and tunes spanning across the band’s 20 year career.

Walking onto the stage to their latest album’s opening track, “Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Wanna Come”, they were well on time and certainly wanted to come to this arena crowd. The second the opening guitar riffs of “Moving to New York” rang out, there were collective screams and smiles for what is regarded as one of the band’s most iconic songs. The energy of these songs were collectively matched by the energy of the band - while the three had their own designated stage positions, frontman Matthew Murphy and bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen weren’t afraid to move around, the latter especially showing his on-stage character. With all the 2000s indie nostalgia riding on The Wombats, I was afraid that many of the tracks on “Oh, The Ocean” weren’t going to have that same impact and would maybe fall flat. Thankfully, while not everything was a runaway success, tracks like “Kate Moss” and “Can’t Say No” showed their ability to keep scaling up their sound to match these bigger rooms. Loud sounds, anthemic choruses and grand singalongs - these tracks have it all, and the crowd definitely weren’t disappointed. The first of the wombat antics then occurred during “Ready for the High”, when a person dressed in a large wombat costume came onto stage, going up to the band members to tease them and even blasting out a ‘trombone solo’ (it was just miming unfortunately!). This is something so uniquely fun about the band’s live shows and it certainly got a laugh from everyone watching.

Things continued to get heavy in sound with the back to back of “Holy Sugar” and “Kill the Director” dialling up the venue’s sound system to eleven. The noise of the crowd in the latter singing the iconic bridge “This is no Bridget Jones” was goosebump-inducing. Despite half of the arena being closed off and the gig being less busy than usual shows at BP Pulse Live, you wouldn’t think it with the noise the band and the audience generated. A special credit is also due for drummer Dan Haggis, who despite wearing a Hawaiian shirt plastered with flamingos in December, shows some heat on the kit on what was a cold and grey evening. There was a beautiful moment with just Matthew and the crowd during “Lethal Combination”, as a sea of torches soared into the air, waving side to side. While this act feels almost cliché when at a gig at this point, Matthew executes the moment so well thanks to this beautiful acoustic rendition.

As the set begins to draw to a close, the intensity and pace of the tracks seem to increase, as well as the credentials of their hits. “Lemon to a Knife Fight”, one of many references to Vitamin C and fruit on the night, is a well-written track highlighting the lyrical quirkiness the band are well renowned for. After the fan favourite “If You Ever Leave…”, the band denounced the idea of dramatic encore by making a joke about walking off and on stage to play another two songs. Before this, however, was the irresistibly catchy “Turn”, another one of their best songs about falling in love. Out of nowhere, an assortment of different coloured balloons fell from the ceiling, much to the delight of those directly under them. Cue the band members and stage technicians showing their best footballing ability to clear the projectiles off stage, proving to be one of the highlights of the night. After coming back for the encore, they play the two songs many people would have come to hear: “Greek Tragedy” and “Let’s Dance To Joy Division”. On the bridge of the latter, the wombat mascots invaded the stage one last time (there were four of them now!!), with two possessing guns that shot powerful streams of colourful confetti into the crowd. If you’re a music purist, there may be many things that might not click for you, but if you’re simply looking for pure, unadulterated fun on a Saturday night, you cannot go wrong with this.