NME News

The Wombats steal We Are Scientists' 'wacky' crown

The Wombats, Shockwaves NME awards show.                                               Pic: James Quinton

The Wombats, Shockwaves NME awards show. Pic: James Quinton

Keith Murray: 'Another band have thrown their hat in the ring!'

The Wombats played a headline slot at The Great Escape festival last night (May 16), at the Concorde 2 venue.

The band were given a surprise introduction by We Are Scientists' Keith Murray, who joked that the Liverpool trio may have taken his own group’s crown as the "wacky" band of the Brighton festival.

At 10pm (BST) Murray took the stage to huge applause and said: "Years ago, when we showed up as a goofy-ass three-piece, I thought we’d cornered the market in goofy-ass three-pieces. But it turned out there are others. This band have truly thrown their hat into the ring."

The Wombats then arrived on stage and played an hour-long set in the packed out venue including hits 'Moving To New York', 'Backfire At The Disco' and 'Let's Dance To Joy Division'.

With the venue full and the weather hot the band were sweltering on stage. "I feel like I’m about to faint," frontman Matthew Murphy said late in the set. He and his bandmates' clothes were saturated with sweat and they were visibly suffering in the heat.

Before playing 'Lost In The Post', Murphy paid tribute to Keith Murray and his band, explaining that he had watched the We Are Scientists Shockwaves NME Awards 2008 videos the previous day, and that they had “rescued him from the depths of despair."

The band’s set was rapturously received, but they only got to play their final song after DJ Zane Lowe, who was compering the event for MTV2 Gonzo, stepped in.

Venue staff had told the band that they had run out of stage time, but Lowe went on stage and led the crowd in a chant for more, convincing staff to let the band play 'Backfire At The Disco' as their closer.

The Wombats played:

'Tales Of Girls, Boys And Marsupials'
'Kill The Director'
'School Uniforms'
'Lost In The Post'
'Party In A Forest (Where's Laura?)'
'Here Comes The Anxiety'
'Untitled New Song'
'Untitled New Song'
'Moving To New York'
'Patricia The Stripper'
'Little Miss Pipedream'


The Wombats tickets:

Comments (1)

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airguitarsuperstar 

May 19, 2008

I saw the 'bats at Sheffield on Thursday and as ever, they were tremendous. How anyone can not love these guys is beyond me. They played an amazing set and by the sounds of it, repeated it a Great Escape. We Are Scientists are also a bunch of legends, so for them to announce Murph, Dan and Tord onto the stage must have been a real treat for the fans. We Are Scientists and The Wombats on tour together...that would make for some amazing gigs. MAKE IT HAPPEN GUYS!

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