LIVE REVIEW IN THIS WEEKS NME | Comments :

06/03/2008 by WOMBATS

This week's NME has a review of the gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire last week, the final show of the 'bats NME tour with Glasvegas and Eugene McGuinness.

THE WOMBATS/GLASVEGAS/EUGENE MCGUINNESS

It cuts the air like a machete swipe - Glasvegas' trademark intro tape, relentlessly bludgeoning the crowd chatter as the noir-clad four-piece stride onstage and attach their instruments to their frames. You've already read the hyperbole, but the next 25 minutes is pure justification for the breathless praise that's coated this band since 'Daddy's Gone' was first uploaded on to MySpace. But this is no clap lap-up - playing to hardcore Wombat-heads, Glasvegas face an uphill struggle fromt the start, as does bowl-cut acoustic supremo Eugene McGuinness.

Anyone who's seen the band rumble through their Spector-esque guitar cascade on their recent toilet venue tour knows how wonderful it is to receive their cat-black, Glasgow-tanned shimmer up close. But to hear it swallow a venue such as this like a bubbling black bath is special. Not that the itchy-bummed audience have much time for James Allana and co, screeching for the headliners at every opportunity and riling the frontman rotten. Don't they know the greatest new band in the world when they play in front of them?

No matter, the country will soon belong to Glasvegas anyway. But for The Wombats, the nation is already theirs. They shimmy onstage to the kind of screeches not heard since Take That last 'spontaneously' ripped off their shirts, and while their domination of indie dancefloors is already assured, they still attack the air like marines. Opener 'Lost in the Post' is spewed like flame from a dragon's mouth while 'Kill the Director', in its entirety, is bellowed back by the fervent crowd. Loyalty like this is unheard of outside Great Dane circles, and it's fantastic to see. And although we can't quite forgive a ridiculous Norwegian rendition of the Postman Pat theme, sung by bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen during the encore, it's difficult to do anything but join the devoted throng for the duration of The Wombats' tune hurricane. They might split opinion lke a banana, but tonight we can't help but grab them with both hands.