Live Review: The Wombats @ 9:30 Club — 1/20/22

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged England, Liverpool, post-punk, The Wombats.

Matt Murphy fronts The Wombats at 9:30 Club on Jan. 20, 2022. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

Toward the end of the main set at 9:30 Club on the first of two nights, The Wombats frontman Matt Murphy told the sold-out room, “This song is based on something my wife told me, prior to launching into “If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming with You” from the trio’s brand new album, Fix Yourself, Not the World.

The inspiration for the song surely justified Murph’s high spirits and good cheer. Happily married, he took up residence in Los Angeles and fathered two daughters with said wife in the time since the release of The Wombats’ previous album.

Whatever good life Murph is living paid off big time not only in boisterous nights at the 9:30 Club but also in the form of a No. 1 album in The Wombats’ native United Kingdom this week! The No. 1 score is a first for The Wombats, who usually broke the UK Top 5 at least with their previous three albums. (Extraordinary debut record, A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, hit No. 11 on the UK charts back in 2007.)

Music Park: The Wombats @ 9:30 Club — 1/8/18

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Liverpool, new wave, post-punk, The Wombats.

Matthew Murphy fronts The Wombats at 9:30 Club on Jan. 8, 2018. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

Matthew Murphy, vocalist of The Wombats, dedicated “Turn,” his band’s latest single, to his newlywed wife during his show on Monday before launching into the sunny song and its salute to love.

The sold-out audience at 9:30 Club was eager for the new single, and delighted squeals greeted the announcement of the song, which came toward the end of a set where the upbeat UK post-punk trio reminded us that they are a really damn good live act.

Don’t Miss: Blaenavon @ 9:30 Club, 1/8/18

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Blaenavon, England, post-punk, The Wombats.

Blaenavon (Photo by Scott Witt)

Update on Jan. 5: Blaenavon have dropped off the tour!

From the band: “Ben was hospitalised just prior to Christmas and is convalescing there under doctor’s orders. He is making good progress and should be out in the near future.

“We promise to return to the US soon to make up for it.”

The Wombats are touring on their fourth studio album, and they are bringing along British rock trio Blaenavon to open at 9:30 Club on Monday, Jan. 8. The show has sold out, but get there early to check out Blaenavon.

Ticket Giveaway: The Wombats @ 9:30 Club, 1/8/18

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, free tickets, Liverpool, new wave, post-punk, The Wombats, ticket giveaway.

The Wombats (Photo by Tom Oxley)

UK indie rockers The Wombats will release Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life, their fourth studio album, on Feb. 9, 2018, via Kobalt Records. On the way to their record release, the band will tour with a stop at 9:30 Club on Monday, Jan. 8! You can win tickets to see them with Parklife DC.

Music Park: Firefly 2016 Music Overview (Day 1 & 2)

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Jeremy Bailey in Live Review and tagged acoustic, Ellie Goulding, Firefly 2016, Firefly Main Stage, Firefly Music Festival, Fitz & the Tantrums, Guster, Jack Antonoff, Kaneholler, Kings of Leon, music festival, Of Monsters and Men, Oh Wonder, Saint Motel, The Backyard Stage, The Coffee House Stage, The Wombats, Two Door Cinema Club.

Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir from Of Monsters and Men (Photo courtesy of Firefly Music Festival)

Firefly 2016. The fifth annual version of the music festival that takes over Dover, Delaware for four days in June, had a solid number of good bands and artists to choose from. The headliners were not as strong as previous years (I still like the first year’s headliners the best). I spent a majority of the time bouncing between one stage or another, eventually catching 30 full sets and another seven half sets.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Day 1 was more about logistics, traveling to Delaware, picking up my credentials (long line!), parking and finding the press tent, but I arrived in time to see a few acts.

Music Park: The Wombats @ 9:30 Club — 4/30/15

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Liverpool, new wave, post-punk, The Wombats.

Matthew Murphy of The Wombats performs at the 02 Academy in Oxford, England on April 15, 2015.

“We have a roadie named Grossman,” said Matthew Murphy, the lead singer of The Wombats. “He eats four chocolate muffins a day.

“He’s the only man who can eat four chocolate muffins a day and still get thinner!” Matthew declared.

The audience caught and ran with the irreverent banter about Mr. Grossman during the sold-out show at the 9:30 Club on Thursday evening. At various points throughout the evening, they would shout, “Grossman!” — both spontaneously at the beginning of a song or at the behest of the lead vocalist.

“Actually, Grossman isn’t even his real name,” Matthew said later. “We keep calling him that in hopes that it will stick — like Reek in Game of Thrones.”

Erudite and entertaining, Matthew had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand as he led his band through a merry romp of songs from the three albums by The Wombats to date, including the latest Glitterbug, released last month. The new songs were very well received, and much of the audience already knew the words to quite a few of the songs.