There’s no denying that The Wombats had complete control over the crowd on their most recent visit to Norwich’s LCR, at the University of East Anglia. Charming the assemblage for the whole 80-minute set.
The venue was packed from the very beginning, with members of the crowd amassing in the centre of the LCR ready for the music to begin. Opening the night to the delightful crowd was The Night Café, a four-piece indie band from Liverpool. At this time of the evening, gigs are just starting to find their feet, with spectators still making their way into the venue throughout the opening acts’ set. However, this was not the case for The Night Café, who already had an established crowd who were fully engaged in their set. The band’s set pursued a classical indie sound, which was performed effortlessly throughout. The Night Café went down a storm with the crowd, who by now were anticipating the second support act of the evening, Sundara Karma.
Sundara Karma had already established themselves as a huge hit with the crowd before performing a single note, with the crowd’s cheers and applause filling the venue from front to back. The band delivered a slightly heavier sound than that of The Night Café; introducing a more indie-rock genre, which The Wombats would later duplicate. The crowd did not disappoint the band when it came to energy, bouncing about; creating a mosh pit at the front centre of the venue. It was great to see a support band go down so well with the crowd, creating an energy that generally only occurs during the headliners.
Fast forward half-an-hour and the crowd were regenerated, drinks in hand and ready for headliners, The Wombats, who made their way centre stage. It was clear that the band have a big following in the city of Norwich, following their recent festival season; performing at some of the biggest events of the summer, such as Reading, Leeds and T in the Park.
The band opened with ‘Give Me A Try’, taken from their latest album ‘Glitterbug’. The crowd did not hold back as they danced and sang to the infectious music, which was carried throughout the whole evening. They got fully involved in the other songs also taken from the band’s latest album, Glitterbug that charted #5 in the UK, and filled half of their set list. However, the crowd were also treated to some old favourites from the band’s first two albums, with the likes of ‘1996’, ‘Jump Into The Fog’ and ‘Moving To New York’. Each and every song resonated with the crowd, who couldn’t have been any more upbeat about the band, and were even titled one of the “best Sunday crowds” by the band. The headliners ended their set with ‘Tokyo’ and returned for a 3 song encore after the crowd roared for more, performing ‘Isabel’, ‘Greek Tragedy’ and ‘Lets Dance to Joy Division’.
There was absolutely nothing to complain about with this show; the lighting, the crowd, the quality of talent, the general ambience of the gig couldn’t have been better. I would 100% recommend seeing this band live, whether it be this tour or the next, there will be no disappointments.
Words – Mollie Maddox
Photography – Kayleigh Warren
