Wolf Alice back at Birmingham Institute

The grungy, cutting edge four-piece from Camden Town returned to Birmingham last Thursday at The Institute with quite the performance.
    With the band now having released their debut album - My Love Is Cool  (which has done extremely well for itself) Wolf Alice embark on yet another sold out headline tour; now in the biggest room that the venue, The Institute, had to offer.

Photo taken by me

   The madness began to unravel as the lights went down; the ear piercing roar of the impatient, adrenaline infused audience ripples throughout the room, fans gravitating even closer towards the stage with a look of determination in their eyes; an oh so familiar greeting to the band. The band appear, being just as pleasing aesthetically as they were about to be musically, with a heavy looking, black calf-length dress cloaked over front woman - Ellie, her hair thrown up into a ponytail whilst also sporting a pair of docs and the rest of the band looking just as cool, they certainly looked the part.
     The opening of The Wonderwhy, album track, begins to play, the moshpit heaving with wide eyed, eager, adoring fans with visions fixated at the electrifying performance ahead. As infectious lyrics are uncontrollably hurtled around the room along with the audience, the room vibrates as blood curdling screams were expressively forced out of Ellie almost naturally through the likes of songs You're A Germ and Fluffy. Signature movements of the audience consisting of arms pounding into the air to the weighty, upbeat tones of hits being forced upon the crowd left right and centre. The show powers on through the night as several familiar songs are belted out, with older tracks such as Blush from their first EP turning the audience into one giant singalong with Ellie herself as the soft blue lighting focused only on her and her guitar. The set ended most memorably with recently released single Giant Peach; in which I had a front row view as Ellie spontaneously threw herself into the audience and crowd surfed - a movement in which appears to be a signature one for her now.

Photo taken by me: Ellie and Theo dancing in sync

      The band sounded impressively tight and in sync with each other, not to mention Ellie and bassist Theo's usual in sync dance routine to the grungy slicked back riff of Freazy; the whole band seeming impressively relaxed and at ease with the whole experience considering that they've only been a band for a few years; followed by the convincing line "Thank you so much Birmingham, this is like a second home to us' referring to the Institute, consisting of three rooms which had all been sold out by the band from their previous much welcomed visits to the city.
        The whole set involved indescribable amounts of life and energy pouring out from both the band and the audience. After being a big fan of Wolf Alice and wanting to see them live for a while, I was sceptical of what to expect regarding their live shows after watching what seemed to be rather laid back sets of the band before; however, the show exceeded my expectations completely and left me wanting more. Seeing Wolf Alice live and being a part of their audience and their unmistakable atmosphere was something that simply cannot be captured by just re-watching a performance through a screen. If you 'don't get what the fuss is all about' with this band, then I recommend going to see them live as it will definitely convert you into a fan. I hope to see Wolf Alice again soon.

Buy their debut album My Love Is Cool HERE

Written by Rosie Mulhern.