Live Review: Wolf Alice - O2 Apollo, Manchester 03/03/2022
We caught the amazing Wolf Alice when their tour made a pit stop at the Manchester Apollo.
This was a tour for many that had been long anticipated what with postponed events from COVID-19 and the overall fact that Wolf Alice had not toured in the Uk for a while, and it therefore seemed clear to me that this would be a truly amazing performance to see. Fans of the band were more than excited to finally scream the lyrics to their favourite songs both old and new from Wolf Alice’s most recent release ‘blue weekend’ and I couldn’t wait to see it!
When the lights finally went down, and the crowd began to cheer I knew right then that this was going to be a gig I’d not want to be forgetting for a while. The band opened with ‘Smile’ and the pits almost straight away opened up. Meanwhile, as the crowd jumped, sang and screamed to their hearts content I couldn’t help but be absolutely mesmerised by the performance before me and the ethereal being that is Ellie Rowsell, lead singer of the band. Her voice is incredible! It’s as beautiful live as it is in studio, and I know for most artists this is extremely difficult skill to achieve and master, especially as so long touring!
Ellie moved around the stage so flawlessly, it was hard not to have your eyes completely fixated onto her as she floated around, her voice never faltering. The rest of the band played in perfect unison too, with sweet interactions with each other here and there as they played hits from their album ‘Blue Weekend’, accompanied by an immense stage production, one you could have easily expected from an arena and not at an O2 Apollo venue, it is safe to say that Wolf Alice really smashed this performance out of the park and to do so on the 14th date of a tour is extremely impressive as I’m sure it’d would be perfectly understandable if a band on a tour of such a long period were to start feeling the exhaustion of being on the road!
The crowd’s energy didn’t waver once all night. From the opening pits to ‘smile’ and ‘You’re a Germ’ to ‘Lipstick on the Glass’ and ‘Bros’ the crowd bounced almost in perfect time with each other and the music, making a very harmonious sense of camaraderie in the audience. You didn’t feel like you were just an audience member but in a very close-knit group, with most people in the crowd screaming every lyric and every ad-lib all together. A perfect little community that has been growing for years all sharing the same excitement. The anticipation of the wait for a Wolf Alice tour clearly worked well on their crowds and fans as a whole.
‘Safe from Heartbreak’ signalled the beginning of the much slower portion of the gig. It occurred to me during this song, not only how much this song means to me but how much it clearly means to other Wolf Alice fans too. It was beautiful to see other fans in the crowd holding onto their friends during the song, as it inspired the thought that no matter what you go through or how heartbroken you are over a certain situation, it was clear in that moment that there are other people that have suffered some-what similar experiences to you, it was nice to not feel so alone.
As the night wore on, I couldn’t help but notice the mixture of fans in the standing pit of the crowd. Some members were fairly young, maybe around sixteen or seventeen (the same age I was when I started listening to the band) and then others were Uni students, like myself who had probably grown up during their teen years listening to Wolf Alice and others were adults who were still thoroughly enjoying themselves. It was nice to see a crowd so enthused by the performance that was happening before them on stage.
The final song ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’ was a very special moment, especially for two young members of the audience. A video online has surfaced of two young people, on the shoulders of their friends, holding onto each other’s face, singing the lyrics to each other! I thought this was such a touching moment to see! ‘Don’t delete the kisses’ is about falling in love and feeling that love so deeply that you don’t want to let go, no one else matters to you in the world and in the video of the young boy and girl you can see that they genuinely could have been the only two people they saw in that whole room. It was truly beautiful and definitely added to the overall, already, emotional moment of the last song.
Overall, Wolf Alice were worth the long-anticipated wait of seeing them live. I’m sure that i am not the only audience member of any of their recent live shows that feels this way. With their lack of live performances over the year, this tour will have been many people’s first chance of seeing the band live and they certainly didn’t disappoint! I’d recommend anyone to go and see Wolf Alice if they have a chance to as they are absolutely incredible performers and are a band that will forever have a special place in my heart as I’m sure they do for many other fans too!
Words by Bethany Atkins
Photography by Lucy Holden
