2022 BRIT award winners Wolf Alice finally brought their rescheduled world tour to Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre for the first of 2 nights on Monday. They brought a fantastic performance and great showmanship to a very excited sold-out crowd. Dundalk natives Just Mustard were on support for the night and handled it with the polish and professionalism of a band which have been touring for years.
The Dundalk rockers put on a fantastic show on the night showcasing their fantastic playing skills and unique vocal performances. The use of effects was abundant throughout the performance and backed-up by a fantastic rhythm section which simple drum beats and fantastic bass riffs. The show was quite dark due to the backlit lighting but this made it quite atmospheric. I thoroughly enjoyed the set and will definitely drive further into Just Mustard’s discography.
Wolf Alice took the stage at a run with bass player Theo Ellis rushing onto the stage with great energy, screaming and hyping up the crowd. Once they took the stage the band drove right into one of the biggest songs off their ‘Blue Weekend’ album ‘Smile’. The bass riffs went right to the core of the audience and made a great start to the set. The crowd were well up it from the start screaming and head-banging throughout the song.
Singer Ellie Roswell addressed the crowd at this point screaming ‘ aright Dublin! Before breaking into ‘You’re a Germ’ and ‘Formidable Cool’ which were fantastically groovy and a stark contrast to the first track.
The next series of songs ‘Delicious Things’, ‘Lipstick on the Glass’ and ‘Planet Hunter’ showed the versatility of the band by playing these softer songs incredibly tightly thanks to the rhythm section of Theo and Joel Amey.
‘Bros’ was the next song in the setlist and was clearly a moment the crowd had been waiting for with them breaking into the lyrics immediately. It was a heart warming moment to see a crowd sing with such passion which we weren’t able to do for so long. ‘Safe from Heart Break’ and ‘How Can I Make it okay’ were played beautifully with the crowd loving every minute ‘
‘Play the Greatest Hits’ gave a stark contrast to the middle of the set. The 3 minute punk song had the crowd head banging from the moment it started. The highlights of the song were Ellie’s vocal performance and Joff’s fantastic guitar playing. This song was once again a contrast to the next song ‘Feeling Myself’ which leaned way more on the funky side of the spectrum rather than the punk style of the former.
The next song ‘Silk’ was an 8 minute Rock song that was thoroughly enjoyed by the crowd before the band dived into ‘Visions of life’. The end of the set was fantastic with Wolf Alice playing some fan favourites ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’s and ‘Giant Peach’ which were great punk filled songs that the crowd lapped up. Sandwiched between these songs was ‘ No Hard Feeling’s which was quieter than the other two and gave the crowd and the band a nice breather.
The encore consisted of the bands most popular songs ‘ Last Man on Earth’ and ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’. These songs were great live and showcased the bands versatility once more.
