Wolf Alice at the Stone Pony — March 24, 2022
My friend (let’s call him David P.) absolutely loves this band. He’s an Aussie, so maybe he’s got a bias for UK and former Commonwealth based bands. He plays them wherever we are — his New York apartment, his country weekend home, even in his car stereo. I’m thinking he’s a fan. When I told him they were playing the Stone Pony, he said “See them. They are wonderful live. “
They were fucking awesome. Five minutes after walking in my house afterwards, I bought two tickets for their upcoming September show at Terminal 5 in New York.
I have to admit, I don’t know much about Wolf Alice or their repertoire. I listened to some of their stuff on Spotify to warm up, and a lot of it sounded pretty good. They recently released an album, Blue Weekend, that has some mellow stuff on it, which I was afraid would dominate their show.
Wrong. They led off with the opening beats of “Smile”, their best-known monster rock storm. Even I know “Smile”, which I think is an awesome rock anthem, and probably Wolf Alice’s signature sound.
The Rock show was ON, and stayed ON, for an hour and a half. Every song they played was blasted out, full of energy and hooks and volume. The crowd, mostly 20-somethings (from nearby Monmouth University?), ate it up. Moshed it up. Jumped all over each other. And knew ALL the words to EVERY song. Bassist Theo Ellis did his ever-lovin’ best to juice up the crowd, not that they needed much encouragement.
I did my best to avoid the Pit, since I’m old and frail and don’t want to use up any unnecessary trips to Monmouth Medical. But it was impossible not to get caught up in the energy, excitement, and enthusiasm of the crowd. Or the band. This is why we go see live music. There is absolutely no way to capture the sound or the emotion on a recording, no matter how good.
The only trace of mellow was the first song of their encore, and I think it was to give the band (and the mosh pit) a break. I’ll give them that. And their lead singer, Ellie Rowsell, has a wonderful voice that deserves to be heard.
I’m officially adding Wolf Alice to my list of bands to see where and whenever I can.
