Tipped as one of the hottest live bands in recent years Wunderhorse are regularly credited as building their fan base “the old fashioned way” (I.e. gigging and lots of it).
That’s how I discovered them. A friend sent me a video saying they’re one of the best live bands they’ve seen in a long time, gave them a listen, and here we are a year or so later at a packed Forum for their inaugural Australian tour.
I have to say, they are very, very good. Technically proficient, and they gel well with one another on stage. They show an intuition of working together typically seen in much more experienced bands and it just shows that lots of gig experience definitely goes a long way.
It was also lovely to see Gen Z actually moshing and engaged in the gig. Phone use was very, very low and a band that can make this audience truly engaged has to be something special. The energy in the room was immense, from start to finish and there was something quite electrical about their stage presence. It felt like a hark back to the indie heydays of the 00’s, and it’s not something I’ve seen from an emerging band in a long time.
It was a pretty short set at just over an hour. Personally, I’d say too short for a venue of Forum’s size and for an audience that might only get the chance to see you once every 4-5 years.
I also felt the set list flowed unusually, and I’m not sure if that’s a lack of understanding of which Wunderhorse songs are popular in Australia or just inexperience in building their set. All of their most popular songs were in the middle of the list, so while they opened fairly strong with Midas and built to a crescendo of Leader of The Pack, Arizona and Purple, it then felt as though it tapered off towards the end. The instrumental section at the end of the encore was phenomenal, but it felt self indulgent at this point and this was reflected in numerous people leaving early.
This didn’t take too much away from it being an excellent live show, and the individual songs are delivered beautifully, with just enough small switch ups from the recorded versions to make them feel special, but still very familiar. They need the audience engagement and the singing along and it’s clear they recognise this. I also loved how before some tracks they played a little snippet of what was to come – it got the audience excited in exactly the right way and really helped build the atmosphere. It was a clever little tactic. However, the show was definitely tinged with lack of experience and Wunderhorse need to be careful to continue to grow and not get caught up in their own hype. What makes an excellent live band in a pub’s band room doesn’t necessarily translate to a larger venue, and as long as they don’t sit back and bask in their accolades and instead remember the work ethic that got them here, they’ll be fine.
I do miss the days when bands made more of an effort to connect with the audience. we don’t need your life story, but honestly, for those of us that go to a lot of gigs, a little interaction goes a long way to make you stand out from the masses. Again, it’s that step from awkward teenagers in a band room to a compelling presence on a bigger stage.
Do Wunderhorse have the potential to be one of the best live bands to come out of the 2020’s? absolutely! Are they one of the most technically strong bands I’ve seen in a while? Definitely! But they need to take the next step now and finesse this raw energy into a fully formed show more suited to the larger venues they’re clearly transitioning into.
Find out more about Wunderhorse here.