obsessed xx: the brilliant night that was The Wombats at the TLA

I’ll never forget it. It was one of those horrid times where after psyching yourself up and finally arriving at the gym you realized you forgot your iPod. You hope to hell that the radio in the gym is on point today with music to pump you up, but then reality hits…every other song is Taylor Swift, which only pumps me up to eat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s by myself while crying to watching Love Actually.

But that blessed day was met with a miracle, my ears perked up…could it be true? I had to ask least three people. It was! They were playing Jump Into The Fog, American radio was playing The Wombat’s Jump Into The Fog! Sure it is only a year after the album the song is from This Modern Glitch was released, but my beating Wombats heart was doing cartwheels. I was so glad that after shouting my love for them on the rooftops of Philly (and the rooftop that is the internet) to try to get my American friends to catch on to the beauty of their music, they were finally starting to get the attention over here they deserve.

I spent the last two years seeing The Wombats play as much as possible. For their first couple trips overseas, they didn’t make it to Philadelphia, so a two-hour bus trip to NYC on a worknight weeknight it was! Every time I saw them was more energetic, infectious and fun. Since, (luckily) they never stop touring (ever), I didn’t have to wait long for them to play one of my favorite bar/venues in Philly, Johnny Brenda’s, a mere two blocks from my house. Seeing them in such a small venue and getting to interview them before the show made my life. I got to interview them as a superfan, and I was so glad to see they were as charming, hilarious, fun and gorgeous in person as I imagined.

After gaining their well-deserved better-late-than-never radio attention, Radio 104.5 hosted The Wombats at the TLA on Tuesday October 16th.

Morning Parade opened and really got the crowd warmed up for some Wombats raving. I stationed myself as close to the front (and inevitably as close to the speaker) as humanly possible and was able to take photos during the first three songs. It’s hard not to smile as soon as The Wombats walk on stage, you can feel the energy that just radiates out of those three boys before they even start to play or sing a note.

The chords of “Our Perfect Disease” started and so did the singing, dancing, and sweating along. The show was absolutely brilliant, song after song they played everything you could want to hear (without playing everything they ever wrote obviously). You can tell that they have just as much fun on stage as we do in the crowd. It was so hard to keep your eyes off Tord (bass guitar, guitar, keys, background vocals) who dances and flails around on stage the entire show like he just drank 18 Redbulls pre-show. Basically, making it so if you are in the crowd not dancing you look even more a right fool.

For the encore, the boys came back on stage to end with “Anti-D”, “Let’s Dance To Joy Division” and “Euroshizer”. After an incredible show/dance party they unfortunately informed us that they won’t be back any time soon. So it’s good Philly fans didn’t miss their chance to burn that show into our memories until they come back after writing and recording their new album… and hopefully getting some well-deserved rarely taken time off.

For more photos, click the photo below.

xx Cheryl