Wolf Alice play momentous set at Latitude 2015

Bands with Wolf Alice’s innate energy don’t come along very often, and today’s set is a huge moment.

Words: El Hunt
18th July 2015

The signs were always there. It’s not often that fledgling support bands send civic town halls into pandemonium by triggering mass crowd surfs, or shake four-strong audiences into human torpedos at midday small stage festival sets in the middle of the British countryside. Bands with that kind of innate energy don’t come along very often, and when they do, it’s something special. Make no mistake, Wolf Alice are one of those bands.

Urging the crowd on, Joel Amey and Theo Ellis slot together like laser precision rhythmic tetris, and Joff - crouching, thrashing, and always baying for more chaos - can conjure magic and mayhem simultaneously. As for frontwoman Ellie Rowsell, she’s a vocal chameleon, shifting from delicate whispers, to demon-summoning, self-combusting screams in a skip. Separately, they’re all magnetic presences. Locked together into the well-oiled machine of Wolf Alice, they’ve got the gravitational draw of the fucking sun.

‘My Love Is Cool’ has been out just shy of a month, and already, every song is embedded into the crowd’s muscle memory. They snarl ‘You’re A Germ’ like they’re up there fronting the band themselves, and sway along collectively to ‘Bros’ as one.By ‘Giant Peach’ people are so immersed that they’re in danger of putting their necks out, waving homemade signs and DIY My Love Is Wool tote bags in the air. It only provides further fire for Ellie, Theo, Joel and Joff, who bounce round the stage like a mentos and coca-cola volcano.

Wolf Alice - who have steadily and surely worked their way up to one of the most exciting debut records in years - were always meant to be one of those special bands that can create a musical explosion from sweet nada. Today, at Latitude, with ‘My Love Is Cool’ finally out in the world, it feels like the moment that all that hard work comes to well-earned fruition.

Photos: Carolina Faruolo and Sarah-Louise Bennett.

Tags: Wolf Alice, Latitude, Festivals, Reviews, Live Reviews