Australian rockers Wolfmother simply rocked the State Theater on Saturday night. Unapologetically wearing Sabbath and Zeppelin influence on their sleeves, the quartet pounded out power chords, falsetto wails and bewitching guitar solos culled from the group’s self-titled debut and recent Cosmic Egg release.
The setlist itself set the show up to be a success. The group kicked off with “Dimension,” and the crowd — your typical selection of college hipsters, rock elitists, drunk 40 year-olds giving high fives and glammed up girlie girls — ate up every note. Favorites selections included “White Feather,” “White Unicorn,” “Cosmic Egg” and “Joker & The Thief” and of course, “Woman.”
Notably absent were the abhorrent ballads found on both albums (”Vagabond,” “In The Morning” and “Far Away”). THANK GOD. I knew Erik would be relieved, too.
The group was solid, but not tight. There should be no question that Wolfmother is actually “The Andrew Stockdale Show.” As the one remaining original band member plus the guy who does all the singing and plays all the guitar solos, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Could an American band get away with playing tribute to the classics, making it their own and turning a show into a one-man band? I suppose we could ask Jack White about that.
What disappoints, however, was a poor audio mix that favored Stockdale’s vocals with no love to his guitar (did I mention he played ALL the solos?) and no love to the organ, which is prevalent in both albums’ instrumentation mix. And you know I love me some keys.
I’ll admit it was a tad disconcerting to watch the three new band members take all cues from Stockdale, especially when he sporadically jumped into the crowd or ran across the stage. I could read their faces: “What’s he doing? Should we keep playing? Will he extend the solo another stanza?” I almost felt bad for the guys. Hopefully by the end of the tour they’ll have a rhythm and feel more like a unit. We’ll see.
Overall, tremendous show. Definitely not as good as their May 2006 show at the Fine Line with the original trio and smaller venue, but it was still a fun evening.
Kudos to the mother of wolves.
