Wolf Alice, Monday 11/15, Union Stage.
I actually had a ticket for tonight's show, but a fellow boardie swapped nights with me.
The opener was a woman called Bria. I believe she and the guitarist are in Orville Peck's band. She was hot and did country covers from her EP "Cuntry Covers." Covers included songs by Lucinda Williams, Marianne Faithful (Why D'Ya Do It?...which was probably a bit lyrically raw for the dad and 6 year old daughter combo and the dad and 9 year old daughter combo I saw near me), the Walker Brothers, Karen Dalton, and Waylon Jennings. All done in kind of a Mazzy Star way with a husky, ragged voice. I was digging it.
The headliners were Wolf Alice. The singer was named Ellie and she was also hot and did originals, half of which were from their new album. It seemed like she couldn't decide if she was Courtney Love, Gwen Stefani, or Olivia Newton-John, but maybe the point was she nailed everything she tried. Two of the wankers in the band are named Theo and Joff, and some JMU alumni bros kept yelling "I love you Theo. I love you Joff." And I kept thinking of my dog at home, who has one of those names (not Joff, thankfully.) It seemed like Joff was a little over the top in his stage antics, particularly because the guitar work didn't seem that complex (*I'm not a guitarist, I could be wrong. I probably am wrong, I feel horrible for saying that. Joff, if you're reading this I'm totally naming my next dog after you), but it got the bros to love him more, so it's all good.
There were a couple of guys I was eavesdropping on who were rattling off all the upcoming shows they are going to who I really should have pulled the "Are you friends with Kosmo Vinyl?" on, but I didn't because I'm a dork. One was 40's-ish and had unusually small ears (not that there's anything wrong with that, I've heard nose size is the real key) and the other had silver hair and a 9:30 mask and had last seen Dino Jr back in 1986. Do any of you recognize yourself from those descriptions? If not, I guess I should have invited them to be friends with Kosmo Vinyl, but I'm just not bold like that.
Anyway, overall I give the show an 8.25.