(As published for Bournemouth Daily Echo)
LIVERPUDLIAN three-piece The Wombats played a sold out gig at Southampton Guildhall last week.
Opening
with barber shop-esque intro Tales Of Girls, Boys & Marsupials, it
was easy to see the throng of adoring fans were not going to be left
disappointed.
The stage flooded with light to reveal a number of
toy wombats, including the band's mascot Cherub, who has been victim to
a number of kidnappings in the past as the ultimate gig keepsake.
They
went on to play through their debut album beginning with Kill The
Director, telling of the protagonist's desire to torture director
Richard Curtis for producing rom-coms such as Four Weddings And A
Funeral and Love Actually. Then came Lost In The Post, which asks the
intruguing question "where do all the letters we write to Santa go?"
and Party In A Forest (Where's Laura), written about an illegal rave in
their hometown.
The trio, who met at Paul McCartney's Liverpool
Institute of Performing Arts, showed boundless enthusiasm and intense
passion for their music - qualities that were reflected in their
audience when they played Let's Dance To Joy Division, which lived up
to its NME award for Best Dancefloor Filler.
A huge inflatable
wombat emerged from the sky to herald a thrilling encore of My First
Wedding and current singe Backfire At The Disco.
Allana Cutter