Photo Credit: Anthony Mooney
Kicking off this year’s On the Waterfront series in Liverpool, THE WOMBATS returned to their hometown for a night filled with indie classics and a selecting from their latest record ‘Oh! The Ocean‘ to make their biggest hometown show unforgettable.
Local lads KEYSIDE, who are already establishing themselves throughout the UK, opened the show. The band began with ‘Rihanna Please Don’t Cry‘ to prime the audience for a long evening of music and sunshine, already attracting a sizable percentage of the audience for their 5:30 p.m. slot. They included a new song titled ‘If You Don’t Try’, suggesting that the Liverpool quintet will be releasing more music soon. When ‘Runaway‘ rolled around, some of their fans in the audience stepped out, singing along with even more joining in for the ‘Sally Cinnamon‘ outro. Capping off their huge hometown slot with ‘Angeline‘, this was the perfectly opportunity to attract a bunch of new fans ahead of their huge UK headline tour later this year.
Birmingham quartet OVERPASS have already started their 2025 in spectacular way were up next. Following their biggest headline tour to date, the big shows are now flooding in for the band. As the crowd had grown, now was the chance to attract new fans to unite with their existing ones. The band wasted no time with their thirty-minute set, opening with ‘Be Good to Yourself‘. A preview of what is yet to come from the band came in the form of their unreleased track ‘Union Station’, which was followed by the intense ‘Right Time‘ and ‘Like No Other‘. Rounding off with fan favourites ‘3am‘ and ‘Beautiful‘ continue to be OVERPASS‘ standout tracks, ending their Liverpool return on a high note.
Riding the wave from their brilliant solo record ‘Once Upon A Weekend’, Manchester rising stars CORELLA made the short trip to Liverpool to deliver their energetic set and feel good summer hits. Opening with ‘Drifting’ to ease the crowd into their customary upbeat show, ‘Waterfall’ followed with a small mosh pit beginning to form. The more laid back ‘Lady Messiah’ was up next, with Joel urging the crowd to join in for the choruses, challenging both sides to see who was the loudest before coming together to round off the song. Despite the blazing sunshine shining on Pier Head, the crowd didn’t seem phased at all. Joel then made his way into the crowd for ‘Barcelona Girl’, this time involving himself in the moshpit to conclude CORELLA’s Liverpool return in spectacular fashion.
Also hailing from Manchester are alt-pop group PALE WAVES, making the short trip up to the River Mersey. The band are now fully into their ‘Smitten‘ era, with the release of their fourth record back in September now behind them, they are looking forward to take on this era with full force. Kicking off their set with ‘Perfume‘ and ‘Not A Love Song‘ from their recent record, the band have flawlessly combined the sounds of their debut and sophomore albums to create the sound of ‘Smitten‘.
Reminiscent of their first single ‘There’s A Honey‘, this drew fans in who have been with them from the very start to join in, and fan favourite ‘Television Romance‘ is still one of their stand out songs that goes down the best at any Pale Waves show. The indie-pop hit ‘Kiss Me Again‘ cranked up the energy to get people dancing before Baron-Gracie dropped guitar duties and utilised the huge stage, looking straight into the camera, which at times was hypnotising for the finale of their set which came in the form of ‘Jealousy‘.
After a day filled with music from some of the UK’s finest acts in the indie scene, it was time to round it off with local legends of the genre, THE WOMBATS. As the anticipation continued to build, the crowd joined in to sing ‘Mr. Brightside‘ while it was being played through the speakers ahead of the headline act. The Liverpool trio soon made their entrance, with a huge roar coming from the Pier Head audience, and the band wasted no time in getting the ball rolling. Opening with ‘Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come‘, which kicked off the show just as THE WOMBATS would have hoped. The Liverpool crowd were off of their feet, and before they knew it, ‘Moving to New York‘ quickly followed to keep up the energy. Fan favourite ‘Techno Fan‘ was then unleashed, which saw the upbeat chorus encourage further energy and singing along to unfold.
As ‘Ready for the High‘ came around, a wombat* made its appearance on the stage, playing a trombone and harassing the band members throughout the song, to both theirs and the crowds amusement. Further fan favourites ‘Can’t Say No‘, ‘Pink Lemonade‘, ‘Kill the Director‘ and ‘Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves‘ all soon featured to keep up the high intensity that spread across Pier Head, which carried on into the latter stages of the bands homecoming performance.
As darkness began to set over the River Mersey, a strong finale consisting of ‘Lemon to a Knife Fight‘, ‘Turn‘ and ‘Greek Tragedy‘ set up the last track from the Liverpool trio in spectacular fashion. Finally, ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division‘ rounded off THE WOMBATS long overdue return to Liverpool and kicked off the On the Waterfront series with the bar set at an all time high.
Taped Magazine 