Wolf alice

A good rock band can make people dance, a great rock band makes people feel. Under the roof of Emo’s in Austin, Texas, backed by a mirrorball and a silver tinsel curtain, Wolf Alice accomplished exactly that. The London based group returned to the first city they ever played in North America for a sold-out show promoting their newest record, The Clearing. The audience warmed up during a great support set by American singer Willy Mason. From the passionate young fans pressed eagerly against the barricade, to the more tenured rockers in the back, every eye was captivated by the performance they put on.

The set started with “Thorns”, the opening track of the new album. Frontwoman Ellie Rowsell was electric, donning an all white outfit with a fringed skirt that seemed to reach out and grab the audience with every turn she made. The rest of the band, composed of Theo Ellison bass, Joel Amey behind the shimmering drumset, keyboard sounds by Ryan Malcolm, and John Victor filling in for Joff Oddie on guitar, carried the same charismatic aura. The band was feeding off of the energy of the crowd, every synchronized arm sway or drum-synced clap flowed through them. Only a few songs into the set Rowsell exclaimed how much she was already loving the crowd. In the front row, bouquets of roses were omnipresent, waiting for their moment to be tossed on stage.

Wolf Alice seems to have perfected the art of a carefully paced setlist, ranging from a sensitive acapella moment for “Safe From Heartbreak”, to vibrant strobe lights and screaming through a bedazzled megaphone for “Yuk Foo”. During “Play It Out”, a song Rowsell described as being about growing up, she kept an eye on a young girl who was in the front row. After the song ended, she approached the girl and told her that watching her throughout the show has been one of the greatest joys of her life.

After 20 songs, the band walked off stage, roses were thrown, and the lights dimmed. They shortly returned for a one song encore for their hit “Don’t Delete The Kisses”, showering the crowd with bubbles, a fitting scene for the gushy love song. Rowsell toted around the previously thrown bouquets before tossing them back into the audience as her final farewell, and the band disappeared behind the curtains before the bubbles in the air could burst