Pop Break Live: The Wombats, Barns Courtney at The Fillmore in Philadelphia
Photos by Cathy Poulton | Words by Wayne-Anthony Phillips Soltis
Barns Courtney
Friday night at the Fillmore Philly started off with an eclectic electric set from UK indie rocker Barns Courtney.
The lights dimmed as Courtney’s backing band hit the stage and he strode out effortlessly cool in his fringed leather jacket, tousled mop of brown waves bouncing, falling just above the pin-adorned jacket lapels, topped off with a lightweight scarf hanging loosely around his neck. With the feather interwoven into Barns’s locks, his aesthetic was reminiscent of a younger, grungier Steven Tyler.
Some argue an opening act should stick to their better known songs or even a cover to get the crowd interested—and that may hold true with certain performers—but Barns is an extraordinary exception. While the first two songs remain currently unreleased, it did not stop the dynamic frontman from getting the crowd engaged; clapping, stomping and dancing along to “Fun Never Ends” and singing back the “Hey-ey-ey” choruses on the 60’s surf rocker “London Girls.”
Strutting around with the swagger like Jagger and the ability to switch seamlessly from strumming his electric-acoustic to conducting the crowd with a wave of his hands, Barns is a joy to behold on stage! The band then launched into his most recent single, “99,” which finds Courtney reminiscing of a now-gone time, comparing the simplicities of one’s younger years to today’s materialistic lifestyle. Mid-set saw Barns’ biggest hit to-date, “Glitter & Gold,” which has over 35 million Spotify streams and is featured as the theme song for Netflix’s original series, Safe.
After serenading Philadelphia with the beautifully written and arranged “Golden Dandelions,” the Fillmore crowd got taken up a few notches with hedonistic tribal drumming of the deliciously debaucherous “Kicks,” all from Courtney’s year-old debut, ‘The Attractions of Youth’ (on Capitol records). Halfway through the song, the leather jacket came off, revealing a poncho-style shirt, loosely framing Barns’ well-toned frame. He then leapt from the stage, climbing atop the barrier, relying on the front row to hold his legs steady as he kept singing and commanding the crowd in another sing-a-long with his hands.
“Do you wanna take a picture with me, tonight??” the charismatic frontman smiled, whipping an iPhone out and ultimately videoing the crowd before announcing it was time for his final song of the night, his breakout hit, “Fire.” The crowd was singing back “Fire” for all they were worth after the half-hour work out of dancing, clapping and moving along, but Barns had one final request. “Shhhhhh! Everybody, get right down, touch the ground…now stay down…shhhhh,” he ordered, as he again jumped down, this time coming over the barrier and into the crowd, hunkering down with everyone. “Now on the count of three, we’re gonna jump higher, get louder and sweatier than we have all night! Are you ready?!” And ready The Fillmore was, as the entirety of the venue—including the balcony—was jumping and singing along to the last two choruses.
Just as the sing-a-long came to end, Barns scrambled stealthily back, triumphantly claiming his stage to an uproarious applause from everyone in attendance. Keep your eyes and ears open for Barns Courtney; this up-and-comer is keeping rock ’n’ roll fun and exciting, a show you do not want to miss and will not soon forget.
The Wombats
Another magical Friday night at The Fillmore Philadelphia saw a stop on UK indie rockers The Wombats Fall 2018 Tour.
For 85 minutes, the British trio had the entirety of the venue feeling fine and bouncing around to their dance-rock stylings; a wonderful start to the weekend!
The last full-length album from The Wombats, Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life was released in February of this year, with a January stop in Philly at a significantly smaller venue. While focusing mainly on the latest effort, the band posted on all of their social media a few weeks before the September 27th tour kick off asking fans what they would most like to hear this go around, yielding a handful of fan favorites thrown in with the hits and new material.
Beautiful People… album opener “Cheetah Tongue,” with it’s intricate guitar work and bombastic drum breaks proved to be a great set opener as well before moving into the synth-heavy “Give Me a Try,” and the electro pop-tinged “1996.” Singer and lead guitarist Matt Murphy’s borderline falsetto voice transitioned smoothly into some more new cuts before the first deep cut of the night emerged, “Patricia the Stripper.” A post-punk power pop rocker about falling in love with—you guessed it—a stripper. While a change in musical direction from previous songs, the crowd still jumped around as much—if not more—for good ol’ “Patricia,” which worked favorably for another club banger next, “Techno Fan.”
Read Pop Break’s interview with The Wombats.
A few more hits peppered the set before the brand new, acoustic-driven “Bee-Sting,” which has gotten the Wombats fanbase buzzing in anticipation of a re-released deluxe edition of Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life set for mid-November via Bright Antenna Records. Smart lyrics—as per usual with Wombats tunes—paint a picture of the protagonist being driven crazy by an unidentified subject in the song, constantly being plagued to the point they would rather leave and never return than dealing with the insanity.
After a warm reception for the newest cut, a quick changeover saw drummer Dan Haggis stand up from his kit and bring out a synthesizer of his own for fan favorite, “Pink Lemonade.” For a song tackling insecurities about infidelity and drug usage, it was quite a fun, quirky, colorful number that had everyone dancing. The final deep cut of the night, “Moving to New York”—also from the first Wombats record—followed up with its fast-paced, furious bass line courtesy of Tord Knudsen.
More hits followed up as The Wombats blistered through to the end of their main set, finishing up with their breakout hit, “Let’s Dance to Joy Division.” An unexpected surprise and the highlight of the show was when Murphy came back for the encore, performing “Lethal Combination” from Beautiful People… solo acoustic (which is another bonus track on the forthcoming re-release). Similar to “Pink Lemonade,” the protagonist and their partner indulge in late nights on the town and substances together as opposed to being unfaithful in the aforementioned song. The entire Fillmore Philly sang along as Murphy stood center stage, strumming the ballad. Dan and Tord joined back on-stage while the crowd was still bursting in cheers and applause for Matt.
The Wombats closed out the dance party with “Turn,” the alternative rock staple from their last record at over 27 million Spotify streams and “Greek Tragedy,” one of their best charting songs around the globe. While the Wombats are nearing the end of their current tour and kicking off next year with their biggest run of home dates in the UK, there is no doubt these successful marsupials will be returning to Philadelphia with new material to dance and lose your mind to in 2019; do not miss it when they are in town again!
