Wolfmother Live!

Wolfmother
Metro, Chicago
Thursday, May 18th, 2006

The next “next big thing” stormed into the sold-out (and then some) Metro on Thursday night, and expectations ran high. Fortunately for the Australian trio, Wolfmother were able to blow doubts away along with the crowd. Frontman Andrew Stockdale brought his larger-than-reality persona (he’s almost six-feet, five-inches with his afro) to the small Metro stage, and managed to command the crowd throughout the show more with his musical prowess than his minimal banter. He was extremely confident and comfortable for a guy who is just starting to hit it big, as he deftly handled lead guitar, vocals, and entertainer duties.

Wolfmother’s sound isn’t just classic rock-influenced, it pretty much is ’70s rock. And the band made ensured the style of their performance matched the era of their music with the way Stockdale strutted around stage in Jagger-like swagger and knelt in front of the amps to create his waves of guitar feedback. All three members were engaging to watch, as drummer Myles Heskett beat on the kit with a vengeance, while bassist Chris Ross spent as much time pounding the keyboard as he did his bass. He pushed the limits of hard rock keyboarding (if there is such a thing) by jumping wildly in the air as he played, and often tipping the keyboard over into the speakers to get feedback. Unfortunately his aggressiveness looked far too forced and melodramatic given the instrument he was on.

Wolfmother wasted no time revealing the incredible breadth and depth of their sound, opening with the Zeppelin-esque riffs of album opener “Dimension,” then diving into the pounding bassline of “Pyramid,” followed by the frenetic punk of “Apple Tree” and the sweeping anthem “White Unicorn.” The biggest disappointment came in the length of their set — slightly short of an hour including the two-song encore (“Colossal” and “The Joker”). Granted they only have a single LP of material to choose from, but the crowd seemed very disappointed at Stockdale’s announcement of “last song.” At least Wolfmother left the packed house hungry for more.

Opening band Deadboy & The Elephantmen warmed up the crowd with their Urge Overkill-inspired alt-rock. While the overall depth of their sound paled in comparison to the headliners, Dax Riggs’ vocals were more than enough to nail each tune (especially the ballads).

— Carter Moss

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly