Volkshaus, Zurich
28th January 2010
To those who prefer their rock ‘n’ roll minus the abundance of cliche that follows Sydney’s Wolfmother around, this bill should have been the other way around. Volkshaus was a hazy, throbbing, sweaty, smoky mass of fans for the Australians’ headlining performance, and the hirsute foursome duly indulged them. Oh, how they indulged them.
Granted, Wolfmother do have songs in their arsenal that hint at thought and ambition – ‘In The Morning’ from latest album Cosmic Egg, is one. But their most crowd-pleasing, swash-buckling cock-rock was what was required here
. And that means ‘Woman’, ‘Dimension’ and ‘New Moon Rising’. It was like a cold beer after a week in the desert for these ecstatic fans.
Wolfmother’s frontman, Andrew Stockdale (right), is an impressive specimen and a fine guitarist, but has a voice that clocks in somewhere between Ozzy Osbourne and Angus Young, and after a while, one does need a rest from the high-pitched wail. He continues to more or less carry the band on his own, to his credit.
The Black Angels of Austin, Texas, are more of a partnership. Led by Alex Maas and Christian Bland (whose expertise with effects pedals makes him a kind of scientist of drone), they make such a noise. This is pulsing, thudding, dark psychedelia that has weight and conscience, yet at the same time a strange kind of warmth. Much of their set, in front of a respectful if rather bemused gaggle of Wolfmother fans, was songs from their latest (brilliant) album Directions To See A Ghost, with some space allotted for new material (bluesy in their own minimalist way, since you’re asking.) Wolfmother are terrific fun, yet The Black Angels prevail… they are on a sterner mission.
Filed under: Live Reviews
