Anne WidjajaVerdict: The Wombats @ Enmore Theatre 9/5/11
May 22nd 2011 07:41
Luckily, the opposite happened. As the band entered the stage and began playing a blistering version of Modern opener ‘Our Perfect Disease’, the crowd, despite containing a large portion of 30 yr old males, ruptured into a teen girl screaming frenzy. Surprisingly, the new tracks were just as well received as the older pop gems from 2007 debut A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation – take that music journalism! Single ‘Jump into the Fog’ soared through the audience with the heavily accented vocals and bops of charming front man Matthew Murphy, dressed in an equally impressive dashing white suit.
The set list flowed very smoothly, cleverly interspersed with most of the tracks from Guide, which brought a dollop of frenzied energy to the short, but sweet, one hour set. Highlights included the ecstatic sing-a-long to the chorus of ‘Kill the Director’ (“this is no Bridget Jones!”); the band’s frenetic thrashing on ‘My First Wedding’ and classic feel-good closer ‘Backfire at the Disco’ ("Yes, I'll meet you on the dancefloor!"). In fact, by the mid-set rendition of the oddly romantic ‘Techno Fan’ - with its catchy harmonies and expertly paced rhythm and pauses - the audience had already been completely won over. And later, so was the band, as Murphy revealed “you’ve moved our furry little souls”.
The charm of Murphy’s lyrics and the band’s flawless execution of sprawling, hook filled guitar pop brought the audience of hungry fans to their knees. No matter what any critic says, if any band can bring fans that much joy, then they can never really do any wrong.
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