REVIEW: Wavves @ Gorilla 06/06

Indie mainstays Wavves, supported by Aussie pop-punks Dune Rats, played a disappointing show at Manchester’s Gorilla last night.

Dune Rats played a long supporting set, around 45-minutes, blasting through a set of samey four-chord punk and old-hat banter, whilst repeating the same stage moves throughout. Lead singer Danny Beausa’s ‘crazy eyes’ are amusing and endearing for all of two minutes, but after the fifth song still eyeballing the audience, he looks lost on stage.

A girl in the crowd said she had “waited seven years” to see Wavves. If that was the case, she must have received the biggest let down of her life.

Ten minutes after stage time, the American band stumbled onto stage, with lead singer Nathan Williams already half a bottle of Jameson down.The set was plagued with technical difficulties; Wlliams managed to break two separate guitars on two separate occasions, the second issue involving a snapped tuning peg. This took a couple of minutes to resolve, whilst the singer joked that “NME will give us a bad review.”

Whilst a rock n roll attitude and easy-going approach are essential to succeeding live, not taking what is essentially your job seriously simply leaves a sour taste in the mouth of fans.Similarly, there’s nothing wrong with getting fucked up on stage – it’s a classic rock show signifier. But when Williams’ forgets an entire verse to a track, perhaps it’s time to slow down on the pre-gig booze.

#wavves #indie #gorilla