Wunderhorse - Birmingham O2 Academy2 Review: A life-affirming experience
Even a phenomenal debut record will not get across the life-affirming experience of seeing Wunderhorse live. Anything but your conventional rock band, they’re looking far ahead into the future, with 1/4 of the setlist already new material.
★★★★★★★★★☆
Credit: Give It A Spin 📸
They’re a band that felt like they jumped into the indie rock scene out of nowhere. Behind closed doors, it had been brewing for years. After disbanding the punk outfit Dead Pretties, frontman Jacob Slater returned home to teach surfing. Escaping the dog-eat-dog streets of London and basking in the clear airs of the sea inevitably turned Slater’s attention inwards. What started as anger and frustration turned to self-reflection.
“I feel like I did a lot of quite painful learning in my late teens and through my early 20s. I think I see the world slightly differently now, and have more tools at my disposal to deal with things that in the past few years would have thrown me.” says Slater to Rolling Stone.
Pulling together friends Harry, Peter and Jamie from his time in London, Wunderhorse was born. And since they started, the band haven’t stopped. Releasing first single Teal in 2021, only a year later debut album Cub dropped.
With most of the tracks already written and orchestrated by Slater’s personal experiences, the band helped flesh out the rest. Cub garnered appreciation from all major critics as one of the best records of 2022 and already had support from long-time friends Fontaines DC and Sam Fender. Both of which offered Wunderhorse support slots.
At the same time, Slater starred in Danny Boyle’s hit TV show, Pistol, which told the story of none other than The Sex Pistols. What followed was a sold-out headline tour around the UK and across the world with the help of The Pixies. And while all this is happening, in the same year (2023) Slater has also released his first solo album.
Rounding up everything that’s happened since the release of Cub, Wunderhorse hit the road again for another round of tour dates.
The four-piece, Wunderhorse, took to the stage at Birmingham’s O2 Academy2. A 600-capacity room already revved up from angsty and fiery support act Basht.
Wunderhorse is anything but your conventional rock band; and experiencing them perform lives up to the hype, and more. So much more. They’re tight. Several times basking in extended jamming sessions throughout the evening.
Even a phenomenal debut record will not get across how tight Wunderhorse are. When live, they are levels above any effort in the studio. They’re a machine, almost animalistic – each person completely immersed in the performance.
Almost a quarter of the setlist is already new material, which is uniquely bold so soon after releasing a debut album. There’s no covers or reminiscing, Wunderhorse are thinking years ahead, with even Slater himself saying he’s already over Cub.
It’s an extremely niche position to be in. Compared to other bands, Wunderhorse is still relatively fresh on the scene.
Kicking off the Halloween night was the bending Girl Behind The Glass and Nirvana-inspired Butterflies. It ignited a room of people screaming every lyric, each word meaning something more to the 600 people pushing closer to the barrier.
Not long after, we were treated to Midas, a fiery, raw and boisterous punk track being road-tested for album no.2. You wouldn’t know it’s unreleased by the overwhelming reaction from the crowd. The same goes for Do You Feel The Rain? and Atlantis. If these are what’s to come, you should be very excited. The band, on the other hand, should start preparing for big things.
Other fan-favourites 17 and Morphine made it into the setlist, offering up a moment to slow the night down and play around with a few extended instrumentals.
Whereas, Purple and Teal (arguably two of Wunderhorse’s most interesting tracks) sent people into a frenzy. The blend of emotional songwriting with the melodic guitar riffs in both of these tracks has clearly touched people.
In Purple, Slater was jumping around on stage, with the crowd taking charge of the words before he could start the final chorus. Then, Teal opened the gates to several mosh-pits and an unbelievable atmosphere.
The evening closed on another popular un-released track, Superman, before the band returned for an encore. The storming Leader Of The Pack was none other than a life-affirming moment. It’s one of those times in the live scene where you truly lose yourself with the fix of energy, music and charisma of a band. And they certainly have a knack for nailing this track live, unreal.
Poppy was the huge finale, featuring an extended outro which lasted almost three times the length of the original. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, this band is unbelievably tight on stage and this live-jamming only re-iterated it. At points Slater sat cross-legged on stage, comfortably riffing. Whilst the band around him felt at one with their instruments – albeit dripping in sweat.
When the experimental jamming came to a mighty finish, the lights blacked and the band disappeared. There was no need for talking or bowing. It was bolder to leave the audience gasping at what they’d experienced.
:: Round-Up ::
Every so often a concert unlocks something inside of you, more akin to an awakening in the soul. It can change your path musically. This is what it felt like – and it’s moments like this that made us start Give It A Spin. Because they don’t come around very often, but when they do, it’s special.
Wunderhorse’s clever blend of punk, rock, euphoric guitar melodies and authentic songwriting has brought to life a future headliner.
It’s a band that feels as fresh as it does timeless, one not afraid to break convention. If you ever get the opportunity to see them live, don’t hesitate, it isn’t one you want to miss.
See full setlist on Setlist.fm. Were you at the show? Check out our Insta and TikTok for videos, or share your own with us.
Midas (Watch Live) – Unreleased
Leader of The Pack (Watch Live)
Poppy (Watch Live)
Rating: 9/10
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