Wolf Alice LIVE @ Club Academy, Manchester 22.10.14

Rating:

The Club Academy in Manchester is perhaps one of the smaller venues London four-piece Wolf Alice have played since unleashing their grunge-revivalist anthems on Glastonbury’s John Peel Stage during the summer, yet it’s evident from offset that they’re genuinely humbled by how welcomed they are by the Manchester crowd.

A short intro jam quickly cascades into the infectious ‘Storms’ from the band’s most recent EP ‘Creature Songs’. Storms is the sort of song that you would inject directly into your bloodstream if you were searching for the secret to immortality, the instrumentation kicks and screams as often as it resides, whilst frontwoman Ellie Rowsell’s vocals are as angelic as they are ferocious – it’s evident that Wolf Alice are here to stay.

About halfway through the angst-doused set (with the exception of the wonderfully poignant ‘Leaving You’) it becomes clear that the band should stick to playing smaller venues for as long as they possibly can. Lead single of the aforementioned EP, ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’s already iconic-sounding riff is met warmly by the crowd as Rowsell croons “it never is enough” to a crowd of around 400 fans who I’m sure would disagree.

Another short jam is an indicator the the band want to cherish every moment on stage, before they finish their set with arguably their most loved song ‘Bros’. An encore of ‘Fluffy’ and ‘Blush’ is further evidence of how emotionally involved the band are with their music, and it’s even more reason to love them.

Wolf Alice will be responsible for a great deal of bruises and sore heads come tomorrow morning, but what they’re also responsible for is provoking a sense of empowerment and youthfulness in their Manchester-based fans… and that’s what really matters.