The Wombats Live Music Review, Birmingham

The Wombats played an energetic, fun-filled show at o2 Academy Birmingham as part of their current tour.
There’s something special about a Wombats gig – it may be the huge smiles on the band members’ faces from the second they reach the stage or the massive hits on the 21-track setlist, but there is a ‘buzz’ in the air.

The Liverpudlian trio chose ‘Cheetah Tongue’ as their first track and it is from their latest album, ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’. They went straight into one of their older hits ‘Moving To New York’. It was a fast-paced, high energy environment, with a lot of people pushing and shoving (and dancing!) at the front, which you might not necessarily expect from a Wombats show. The boys don’t slow down, not until the encore when frontman, Murph, plays an acoustic version of ‘Lethal Combination’. “We’re going to have a moment now,” he told the crowd.

Towards the end of the show, giant balloons are dispersed into the crowd which just adds to the ‘party’ feel. At one point during the show, Murph yells out, “c’mon you absolute f*cking legends“. He also called songs ‘Lemon To A Knife Fight’, ‘I Don’t Know Why I Like You But I Do’ and ‘Pink Lemonade’ “The Citrus Trio” as he would be “singing about fruit for 12 minutes” but there were no complaints.

The Wombats formed in 2003 and, seeing them live, it is clear why their upbeat yet honest songs are still relevant. The last song before the encore was ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ which sparked an epic sing-a-long (“Everything is going wrong, but we’re so happy”). Just to add to the fun element, there were 3 wombats on stage! Well, they were 3 people dressed in wombat costumes but it’s nice to pretend.

They went on to play to 12,500 people at Wembley Arena the next night.

See Wombats tour dates.