Wolf Alice – Gig Addiction

Wolf Alice, Sunflower Bean, Superfood, O2 Academy, Leeds, 18-11-17

When I booked train tix for this one,I thought it was a strange route they were sending me on. Expected it to be Boston, Grantham, Leeds . Instead it was Boston , Sleaford, Lincoln, Retford , Leeds ! (I later found out ,due to engineering works,trains were not stopping at Grantham). If only ever been through Retford before ,never changed there. It was a strange station as to get to the main line, had to go under the tracks, then walk quite a way, then round the corner to the 2nd part of the station. My train arrives in Leeds on time, so quickly walked to my hotel, the Clayton. I remembered the route & short cut even though hadn’t stayed there for a few years ☺ Checked in ok & they gave me a free room upgrade. Sent a msg to Lorah about where we’d meet up & was soon in way back into city. It was very busy. Millennium square had some kind of fun fair going on. The Cuthbert Roderick was rammed so waited outside for Lorah. We then went to the Hedley Verity. Still busy, but got a table ok. Ordered food then had a good old catch up. ( Sorry Lorah if I went on a bit !) Eventually we went to the Academy & I had a chat with security about disabled access & the complimentary companion ticket). Had a bit of a laugh with security guy, (how many pockets in your bag Lorah?!?), He wondered what the “big thing near my pocket” was….It was a portable phone charger lol Then he started telling us about ” Wish “, a website similar to Ebay. A decent geezer unlike some jumped up power hungry security 😉 He got a lass to take us up in the lift to balcony. Poor girl, it was her first day & she hadn’t used the lift before so was a bit uncomfortable lol. Once up on balcony could pretty much go where we wanted. Chose the left side . There were already a bunch of people up there (dunno how they got there before us) but still got a nice view.

Once again “Superfood” opened & again I wasn’t very impressed (same for Lorah). But the crowd seemed to like em.
Next it was “Sunflower Bean” . Came out with the same lines as in Nottingham ” We’re Sunflower Bean from New York ” 😀. Once again I enjoyed their set.
Wolf Alice played the same set as they did at rock city. The crowd were well up for it from the off. There were quite a few circle pits with the kids down there 😉
If anything, I’d say the crowd sing a longs were louder than R.C.

Once again, I loved the show & couldn’t help but make a few video clips 😉

Lorah seemed to have enjoyed the gig & for myself it was nice to spend some time with an old friend instead of being there on me tod.
Man it was cold afterwards ! Lorah was catching a bus home from near train station so we walked there & said out goodbyes. She took a quick selfie before leaving. I got back to hotel even quicker than when I arrived in Leeds….must been cos was so fooking cold ! Didn’t have the best nights sleep as a couple of times noisey peeps walked by.
Next stop is Nottingham to see H.E.A.T…..on the train at midday ! Loving life at the moment ☺

Wolf Alice, Sunflower Bean, Superfood, Rock City, Nottingham, 15-11-17

There was a little drizzle as i walked to the train station. Nothing too much. The trains ran fine & was soon at Nottingham. First stop was Argos as needed to collect a couple of things i couldn’t get in Boston. Then checked into Roomzzz hotel. “You’ve been here before haven’t you? So i don’t need to go over everything with you again?” She was correct 🙂 I got a nice room, almost at end of corridor (The best place as you won’t get people walking by late at night 😉 ) I relaxed for a while, then made my way into town to get food.(Yeah, my usual place lol). Walking back to hotel,as i went past Rock City, i saw a chap queuing who i recognized, so stopped & had a catch up with him. (The funny thing about us knowing each other was that i often saw him at various gigs. I think it was at Wolf Alice Leeds 3-16 that we started chatting. I said something like “Ive seen you at a few gigs & recognise your face”. Coulda knocked me down with a feather when he said he was also from Boston! Small world !) After our chat, i went back to the hotel to relax a bit more. As is the usual preocedure nowadys, i went back to RC about 15 mins before doors, talked with security about having a prearranged seat in balcony, then whilst waiting, had another chat with Nige B. Soon got in, at my fave spot on balcony.
First act tonight were “Superfood”. Can’t say they did anything for me. Second act was a band from New York, called “Sunflower Bean”. They were pretty decent. I enjoyed their set. They also got a good reaction from the crowd. Apparently, they’ll be coming back to Nottingham soon & will be playing The Rescue Rooms. Need to check out their album.

There was a pretty quick turnaround before Wolf Alice came on. I noticed the floor was absolutely rammed. The lights went down & Wolf Alice slowly walked onto the stage. From the off, the crowd was very loud. Pretty sure tonights set list was the same as in Amsterdam. Second song in ” Yk Foo ” really livened things up. Already, there were a couple of mosh pits down there. When they played the familiar opening riff of ” You’re A Germ”, the room just goes crazy! It went to another level. You could also see that Ellie was really enjoying herself. THIS is the Wolf Alice i’ve come to love. “You’re Loves Whore” is fantastic.

The more i think about it, i realise that the Melkweg show was nowhere near as good as Rock City. It had been bugging me that i felt something was “missing” at Melkweg but couldn’t put my finger on it. I now realized the thing that was missing, was the great Rock City crowd 😉 Don’t get me wrong, Melkweg was great night out, but Rock City was another level up 🙂 Tonight’s setlist was similar to the other shows i’ve seen on this tour. I think they just made slight changes as to where the songs were in the set. The night ended with the double wammy of “Blush” & “Giant Peach”.

Wolf Alice , Melkweg, Amsterdam, 3-11-17

Originally, i planned to go see Guano Apes in Berlin & Leipzig. Then travel to Amsterdam & have “a day off” on Saturday, before the GA show at Melkweg on Sunday. Was gonna do that with Marc, but, even though he was initially interested in doing Berlin/Leipzig, he lost interest. I didn’t fancy doing the shows on my own,partly because of my illness & partly because i’m not as confident doing stuff out of the UK nowadays (This is coming from a guy who made multiple flights & train rides to see all the “final” GA shows back in 2005). Oh another thing, due to my condition, i cannot get any “holiday” insurance. So in the end, i had to cut it back & just go to GA in Amsterdam. However, my local mate Andy (G) kinda came to the rescue. He’d booked 3 nights hotel in Amsterdam whilst i’d only booked 2 nights (Sharing with Jorge). Andy suggested i fly out with him & i could share his hotel room on the first night (+at Gatwick as well). He’s a good mate for sure. As i’d waited so long for Marc to decide, flight prices were going up & i really needed to get on with things. So i took up Andys offer & booked train tix & flights to Gatwick.

This whole trip started after Curry Night on Thursday 2nd November. Went staight to Boston train station to travel to Gatwick airport.Was a smooth journey, with no hickups along the way.Soon got checked in & once in the room had a good, if short, nights sleep. No snoring either 😉 The flight went well & we quickly got into Amsterdam. Bought a 3 day travel card as Andys hotel was quite far away. I fancied walking it as it wasn’t too far from the area i know & it’s always good to have a packup plan if trams have any problems. As we walked along Damrak, i decided i need to start the day with some chips & mayonaise ! (Didn’t have any on last trip to the Dam, so had to have em this time!) We walked the route we’ve done many a time & soon got to Leidesplein. As we were there, thought we’d quicky go to Melkweg. (Backtracking a bit… before we travelled over to Amsterdam, Andy had mentioned that “Wolf Alice” were playing at Melkweg on Friday. I immediately thought “Hmm that would add to the trip”….but i wondered if i’d be knackered already & didn’t wanna wear myself out on the first day, which could potentially ruin the whole weekend for me. So decided to make up my mind once there). We then carried on to find my hotel. Once again, it was in the pefect position for Paradiso/Melkweg/ Rijksmuseum etc. Then carried on to find the hotel Andy had booked. Having not been there before, it took us a while to find it. Funniest thing was we actually walked right past the place & didn’t realise it ! When we doubled back, i said ” Andy, see that big sign that says Hilton?” was funny at the time. We soon got checked into the hotel by a lass that Andy took a shine to. Didn’t quite catch her name, but sounded like “Urethra”. Hence forth that was her name 😉 Whilst we were in our room, there were some chaps outside cleaning the windows! I also noticed, down below, a boat connected to the hotel (i assume) Hilton Marina .

I decided to stay in the hotel for a while, to recharge my batteries, whilst Andy went out for a while. (Any excuse eh mate ? ;-)) I think Andy came back just over an hour later. We then went or our usual pilgrimage to the various bars etc. Mr T. wasn’t with us this time, but he’d sorted out Andy with his infamous stickers on the the map 🙂 First place we had a beer was Cafe Hoppe. Later we went to Tomaz Restaurant for some grub. It was busy, but managed to get a table. Had a good old chat with the waitress & i said something like “When i think of a pie, i imagine it to be some pastry with a filling”. What she recommended , was actually a tart, but they called it a pie! Apparently, she’d been saying this to the management for a couple of years, but they wouldn’t change it to what it really was . She even suggested i should review the place & mention about how people visiting expect a pie (as i previously described) So, that’s where my comment of “When is a pie not a pie? When it’s a tart!” came from 😉 After filling ourselves, we went for another wander & somehow we ended up back at the Melkweg 😉 We decided that as we were here, we might as well go see Wolf Alice 🙂 It wasn’t sold out, so getting tickets on the door was a doddle. Maybe it was because we got there early, but the place wasn’t very busy. Managed to find a nice spot on right side of balcony & we stayed there all night.
Tonights gig was good, but not great. I couldn’t put my finger on it,but, i kinda felt that something was missing. Andy seemed to enjoy it, so that was good to see.

Wolf Alice , Spring King, Fish, o2 Forum, London 27-3-16

Wolf Alice, rock city, Nottingham 23-3-16

I was really looking forward to seeing WA at my fave venue, Rock City. I had high expectations. Traffic was really busy tonight so i didn’t park at the park n ride, trying to save a few extra minutes.I arrived about 5pm & there were about 15 kids in front of me. Pretty obvious where they’d be heading for.Whilst waiting, a camera crew set up across the road & filmed us all. Once inside,as expected, everyone dashed to the barrier & yours truly went to the balcony. First person up there so got my usual perfect spot. The kids loved “Bloody Knees”. They got a circle pit going 2nd song in. Once again, they did their job of warming up everyone.

When i saw “Swim Deep” in Leeds, i was quite impressed with their “quirkiness”, so was looking forward to rock city. They got a fantastic reaction, almost like a “heroes return”. There was one song, where a very large percentage of the audience seemed to be singing along. I think the great thing about this band is you just cannot pigeon hole them. They have so much stuff mixed in their sound.

WA hit the stage the same way as they seem to be doing everywhere on this tour : intro/Loves whore/ germ. It’s a full on great opening. The crowd just loves them & i’m pretty sure WA love the crowd 🙂

My concerns, erm no, my questions i had about the performance in Leeds (with relation to band/crowd interaction) were answered : Yes, they are more about just getting on with the show! However, if anything, i’d say there was more interaction at RC. “Bros” is a killer song as always. Hell, the whole night is great. Just a shame it’s all over so quickly. Something like 17 songs in just over an hour!

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Funny moment was during “Turn To Dust” when Ellie messed up. But she took it with a smile. Everyones only human. Oh, i never did find out what the filming of the gig was for. I saw 3 pro cameras in the gig, so it must be something worthwhile…but what ??

Wolf Alice, bloody knees, swim deep, O2 Academy, Leeds 19-3-16

I’ve really being looking forward to seeing Wolf Alice. I’m a little late getting into them, but, i just love the album so decided to see them live a few times. Nowadays i’m trying to go more gigs on weekends as we’re only in March & already i’ve used a lot of holidays! My journey was very smooth & i found car park easily.Then searched out another car park i’d seen online (as it’s WAY cheaper than where i was staying). Went to the “usual”, the “Cuthbert Broderick” for lunch. Then later met Lorah back there. It was 3 years since we’d had that crazy drunken night after Skunk Anansie gig there. Next there was a freaky coincidence at the gig : As ever, i got talking to the chap next to me. Cannot imagine our surprise when we both realised we’d traveled from Boston & kind of knew each other ! (We’d never previously met) So we had a bit of a laugh. The first band ” Bloody Knees” really try hard. Think Nirvana & that’s a pretty good description. They are full of energy & they get a great reaction from the crowd. Seen it all before, but, good on them for making a fist of things.

Next up it’s ” Swim Deep “. These are different & interesting. During the first song the singer managed to make his ear bleed & he couldn’t seem to understand how. I loved the freaky little keyboards & the main keyboardist was so funny. I say that in a nice way. He was very entertaining. I think in some ways i enjoyed SD more than BK, but, i enjoyed both acts. They did what was intended; warming up the crowd for the main event.

As soon as Wolf Alice came on stage, the audience went crazy. All around, people were jumping around & pushing. Singing the songs & generally having a great time. Was quite funny seeing the security getting annoyed at the members of the crowd on friends shoulders. No sooner had they told someone to get down than someone else was up! It seems that WA have played the same set every night on this tour,but, it’s one hell of a show! Everything comes over great live. Joff is a great visual guitarist. Damn, can he play!

They had a nice light show which complemented the sounds. Particularly loved it when they slowed things down & Joel (drums) sang ” Swallowtail”. Just beautiful. Talking of beauty, yes, of course Ellie is great. She’s a natural. She did seem a little withdrawn at times, but, it was all good.

If there was one thing i’d criticize about the show, it would be the lack of interaction with the crowd.Maybe they are a “heads down & rocking” sort of act & they just let the music do the talking? For me personally, i think what really draws me to WA is their balance of pop & rock. An old indie style which rocks out big time. On this tour they’re doing 4 nights at Londons Forum & most of the other dates are selling out. That’s an indication of how their popularity is growing. I really hope they can keep things together & progress well without the pressures ruining them. I’m already interested to think where they will go with the next album release !