I found myself in an unfamiliar position at the Granada Theater, the day Wolfmother came to play this historic venue. I didn't have a good parking spot. I didn't arrive early enough to have a cheap drink across the street at the O.T. Tavern. I didn't have a prime location to shoot photos. Heck, I barely caught the tail end of openers Deap Vally's set. As luck turned out, I had an extended meeting planned that afternoon that spilled into the evening, causing my whole concert schedule to be pushed back a couple of hours. I'm usually pretty good at arriving early to the venue and scouting out good locations to shoot from, when the venue doesn't have a photo pit. So, my plans were thrown out the window, but that didn't take anything away from me enjoying this show.
Wolfmother are a brazen trio from Australia, forged from the molds of gritty 70's hard rock. Led by electrifying frontman and lead guitarist, Andrew Stockdale, these Aussies put on a raucous show that may be short on theatrics and stage production, but is made up ten-fold in energy and pure sonic fury. While Wolfmother may be touring in support of their latest album, Victorious, the band leans heavily on material from their 2005 self-titled debut album. Though starting the show with the title track of their latest effort, "Victorious", nine of the twenty songs the band performed were from Wolfmother. And why not? With songs like "Love Train" and "Colossal", it's easy to see why the bulk of a masterful album would be played each night. And the band wasted little time whipping the Granada crowd into a frenzy, performing one of their most popular songs, "Woman", only after two songs. If you like the sound of their albums, you'll absolutely love their live performance. The guitars are crunchier, the bass is booming, and the drums are on point. It's easy to see why they have such a strong following. Their set is pretty straight forward, no frills but lots of hard rock bliss. To end the evening, the trio pulls out "Joker & the Thieft", easily their best song of their catalog to end a show with. The guitar intro gets the crowd jumping and Stockdale holds the crowd in the palm of his hand. They are a band I would definitely catch when they come through town. Photos of the show are below:
enjoy.
Wolfmother @ Granada Theater, Dallas, TX
Reviewed by Scott Rowe, Editor
on
March 23, 2016
Rating: