There's no other way of saying it, 2015 has been the year of Wolf Alice. With the release of their fantastic debut album My Love Is Cool, multiple tours and their festival-stealing set at Glastonbury the band have taken this year by storm.
I've seen Wolf Alice four times (three of those were this year) and every time their fan base has grown, and it's hard to believe the first time I saw them was playing a comparatively small gig at Dot to Dot Festival last year amongst a group of other fans who knew the band were something special. It's testament to their talent that little over a year later they were back in Bristol but playing a sold out show at the 02 Academy.
As this was the opening show on the tour we were the first crowd to see Wolf Alice perform every track from My Love Is Cool, which frontwoman Ellie Rowsell excitedly told us after the band opened with the closing hidden song from the album. With a mixture of songs from the album and the occasional older track from the band's EPs the gig showed off what really makes Wolf Alice unique; the diversity and variation of their music. I've made no secret of feeling annoyed every time they are lazily compared to Elastica, and the band's set list on this tour really showed how redundant and tired that comparison is. From the summery pop of Freazy to the hard rock of Giant Peach here is a band that takes inspiration from multiple genres and styles and fuses it all together to create an identity that is solely theirs.
Crowd favourites of the night included debut performances of album tracks Soapy Water and Lisbon, as well as regular live favourites Moaning Lisa Smile, You're A Germ and Fluffy. The night concluded with an incredible power house performance of Giant Peach which was received with a rapturous applause from the crowd who all left buzzing.
You're A Germ
It's been a real thrill seeing Wolf Alice go from strength to strength over the past couple of years, and to see their number of fans grow at every gig. I can't wait to see what they do next.
