If there truly is a correlation between ticket sales and how great a live act is, Perth has got it criminally wrong.

Playing to a small but energetic crowd, Wolfmother took Metro City from Perth to another dimension on Thursday night as part of their Gypsy Caravan tour.

Supporting act for the night were Perth indie faves, Dream Rimmy. Delivering a set of indie rock pieces, the group gently warmed the crowd with their shoe-gaze inspired jams.

Dream Rimmy – Photo by KLowe Photography

Once Dream Rimmy had finished I was preparing myself for the mass of people to enter Metro City. But once the lights had dimmed and music faded, it was apparent that the crowd had reached its peak. I estimated roughly 250, but our photographer, Karen Lowe, estimated even lower than that. I guess I’m trying to be generous because Wolfmother deserve more than that.

At 9.30pm, Wolfmother, comprising of Andrew Stockdale, Ian Peres and Alex Carapetis, took the stage for their first headline show in Perth since August in 2014. From the first beat, Wolfmother kicked it off to an already impressed crowd. Here is where I’ve got to give Wolfmother’s touring crew and/or Metro City’s sound department a round of applause. This was the best I’ve heard a gig at Metro City. Mixed perfectly; vocals, drums, guitars, bass and keyboard were all clearly audible. It was refreshing for the ear to not have the PA cranked further than it can really perform. Loud yet clear, kudos to you Metros and Wolfmother.

Touching upon every album in the back catalogue, it was pretty even pickings between the debut self-titled, Cosmic Egg, New Crown and Victorious. All the classics, from Joker and the Thief, White Unicorn, Woman, to the fan-favourite deeper cuts such as New Moon Rising and How Many Times appeared throughout the set. No sleeper ballads or quiet moments. From start to finish, it was high energy from Stockdale and his band of energetic men.

As an appreciator of percussion, Alex Carapetis’ drumming was outstanding. Not only did he faithfully recreate the high-energy of the studio albums, but he added a little somethin’-somethin’ more. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but Carapetis has previously toured for acts such as Phoenix and Nine Inch Nails. Which, in retrospective, makes total sense when considering how sharp his sound is.

Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale – Photo by KLowe Photography

Stockdale knows his vocal range and works with it. That signature voice that fueled my high school years of the mid to late 2000s is still there and kicking. Oh, and he is still rockin’ the infamous afro, I’m glad to report that it’s as big and fluffy as ever.

Ian Peres is probably the most entertaining to watch. I don’t know what the heck is in his morning coffee, but between crab-walk bass playing and standing on his keyboard (literally) to jump off and land a perfectly emphasised chord, makes me want to know which café he gets his beans from. He also demonstrates an impressive leg kick that allows him to switch from keys to the bass guitar slung on his back, which makes me think a show of Peres alone would be worth a watch.

The only criticism of the night was the stage hands lack of attention. When Carapetis’ crash cymbal fell over you would expect that within 10 seconds someone would have rushed on stage, propped it back up, fixed into position in a way so it wouldn’t happen again. It took more than a minute (which might not seem long, but it is quite some time in the context of performance music) before the stage hand looked up from his iPad. It took a further, and agonizingly awkward, 15 second exchange mid-song between himself and Carapetis’ until he had caught on to what happened. Its unreasonably to not say that these mistakes happen, but it was pretty embarrassing when this issue arose twice more by the end of the gig. Only on the third time did more sandbags come out.

Carapetis’ drum kick also kept slipping out during Joker and the Thief. I don’t know who would have been held responsible at the end of the show for that, but credit to Carapetis’ for maintaining musical proficiency by keeping the beat going, exchanging the bass kick for a floor tom smoothly, while a stage hand adjusted it back into place.

Almost anyone who had an FM radio in the mid 2000s know who Wolfmother are. They’re undeservedly one of those ‘love ‘em or hate ‘em’ acts of Australian rock. Common rhetoric I’ve heard over the years is that they sound exactly like Zeppelin or Sabbath. An argument I believe is pretty short sighted. And as a fan of all these bands, I’ll argue ‘til the cows come home that Wolfmother have got their own thing going and deserve more.

Maybe there wasn’t enough marketing, maybe there was another gig on that night that stole the crowd. Whatever it was, Perth, you should have been there. I bet the 250-or-so others that were will also agree.

Pardon my slight frustration.

You can check out the shots that our very own Karen Lowe took in our gallery here.