Wolfmother

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Reading Festival 2006

Friday 25th to Sunday 27th August 2006
Little Johns Farm, Richfield Avenue, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 8EQ, England MAP
£135 for weekend (including camping), £60 any day

Daily capacity: 55,000

Old school rock comes to Reading. I was expecting a ‘joke’ band in the mould of The Darkness but instead we get a band taking it all seriously. They do classic rock riffs rather well and the Australians take us back to a golden age. The comparison to early Sabbath or Led Zep is very deserved and they execute their brand of heavy rock very well. To those of us who remember the bands they base themselves on this is rather nice. To my ear they sound more than a little AC/DC too.

The moustachioed lead singer has the stage presence although possibly not the stature of the old behemoths looking even more sleight that Hendrix did. However they let their fingers do the talking and the trio make enough noise to sound like a five piece, ‘White Unicorn’ where they take us on a journey into the world of Wolfmother shows their musicality and that they stay true to their prog rock/concept roots, however much of the crowd miss the stylings of their music.

‘Woman’ however has them firmly onboard and shows their skill at remaining lyrically to the art of the rock anthem. I spot Emily Eavis in the crowd, could she be checking them out for Glastonbury? Their music could be a contender for the big platform but they’ll need much more airplay to get them into the public psyche.

Their problem is perhaps they are a little too pure, however the crowd continues to grow and perhaps there are a few youngsters about to take up the torch. Wolfmother’s problem is that they are a throwback to another era and likely to do far better in the parts of the world that still love this sound rather than the hybrid rock pumped out and promoted to a British audience. I suspect by the time they return they’ll have conquered the world but people here will still be wondering what all the fuss is about. Rock is rooted in indie and only the stoner crowd will appreciate this rather than the mainstream.