Wolfmother singer, guitarist and all-round brains of the outfit Andrew Stockdale (and that is a true-blue, solid Australian name if ever there was one… a bit like ‘Nathan Hindmarsh’) likes to have fun with his well-earned rock-god status. At one point in this pulsating show in Zurich’s finest medium-sized venue, he stands perched with one foot on a speaker, like some kind of heavy metal Moses surveying his flock, eyes closed and arms rhythmically up-strumming his guitar in a windmill motion. It is, of course, a horrendous cliche. But that is what the often glorious Wolfmother have largely been trading on since they got together in 2000. No use in messing with a winning formula now.
At other moments, he shuffles clumsily about the stage like Michael Jackson. Conscious of his ridiculousness at all times, Stockdale has the gumption to poke fun at his exalted position. And that makes him all the more charismatic.
If 2008/9 was a period of transition for the burly Sydney-siders, then 2010 sees them arguably stronger than they have ever been. Their second album Cosmic Egg was released last October, and while not exactly stretching boundaries or transcending genres, was a consistent enough effort. The time since then has allowed fans to fully ingest the new Wolfmother, and tonight’s show was packed with sweating, wide-eyed fans almost unhinged at the prospect of staple show-stoppers such as ‘Woman’, ‘Dimension’ and ‘New Moon Rising’. They rocked out hard. No more, no less.
That kind of simplicity cannot quite be said of support band the Black Angels. The Austin, Texas quintet are also on their second album, but enjoy a certain subterranean credibility that will always elude Wolfmother. They peddle a heavy, minimalist psychedelic rock that even comes close to certain strands of metal at times. They even have an instrument that they call a ‘drone machine’.
Tonight their set includes several songs from their 2008 album Directions To See A Ghost, tracks that thud along with spectacular morbidity. Unfortunately most of the sparse crowd in front of them were hyperactive Wolfmother freaks, perhaps not used to something quite so subtle. This is deviance, to them. The Angels previewed new material too, which interestingly are more in a bluesy direction, suggesting their obsession with the Velvet Undergound and to a lesser degree 13th Floor Elevators, may be reaching its natural end.
When the Black Angels headline, they often create evenings of brutal, incredible euphoria with their ear-splitting racket. As the support act, they were not allowed to achieve this tonight. At the peak of their powers they will easily overpower the likes of Wolfmother, but working in tandem with them they only served to emphasise the fact that the headliners appeal to the basest instincts of rock fans. There is nothing wrong with that, but ultimately it is bands like the Angels who will inherit the earth.
