Live Review: Wolfmother, The Owls

A heavily male-dominated crowd sporting a lot of black and long hair began filling the room for Newcastle four-piece, The Owls. Squashed to the front of the stage in front of Wolfmother's drum kit, their hard rock/indie sound was well received by the crowd.

Tracks from EP Swamp Love, including Space Invaders and Better Off Deaf, were pumped out with great gusto and dark, heavy guitar riffs. When singer Josh Bailey moved to acoustic guitar for Go Let It Go, the thrashing sound and grit he managed to maintain was nothing short of impressive. A cover of The Stooges' I Wanna Be Your Dog and new single Krakow were the perfect finish to the set.

A full, but far from packed crowd jostled to the front of the stage for the long-awaited return of Wolfmother. There was something hugely exciting, yet at the same time slightly sad about seeing such a globally acclaimed band playing at a venue where newer, up-and-coming bands usually grace the stage.

Nevertheless, this could have been a world class stadium for all the screams, excitement and epic proportions of this performance. Swathed in a haze of smoke, Andrew Stockdale's trademark hair emerged from the darkness, joined by effortlessly cool new band members Ian Peres and Vin Steele to squeals of delight from the crowd.

New track New Crown started proceedings with Stockdale visibly thrilled to be there, grinning from ear to ear and pumping his fist in the air. The energetic crowd started jumping around for hit New Moon Rising and things just built from there as the epic sounds and mind-boggling noodling built through to Woman, Enemy Is In Your Mind and Mind's Eye, which by this point had the crowd moshing in a big sweaty mass on the dance floor.

More new tracks followed, which were as well received as the classics that included Apple Tree and Dimension. Favourites Love Train and Colossal finished the set before the band returned for an epic version of Joker And The Thief that went off. An epic performance that makes it hard to believe these guys aren't getting the air time they used to.