Pop Break Live: Alt-J with Girli on the ‘An Awesome Wave’ 10th Anniversary Tour at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, California on March 20, 2023.
If there’s one thing Los Angeles knows how to do, it’s throw a fun anniversary party. British indie rock band Alt-J opened the first of three sold out shows at the Wiltern in Los Angeles on March 20th in celebration of the 10-year anniversary of their smash hit debut album, An Awesome Wave.
The record, at the time, truly made such a wave on indie corners of the internet – particularly Tumblr – that only Arctic Monkeys could out-shine the band’s sudden meteoric rise. In 2012, Alt-J hit the indie music scene just as an indie renaissance was in the works in the U.S. and won the coveted Mercury Prize in the U.K., an award given to the best album in the U.K. by a British act. Despite the heavy competition at the time, the band still managed to rise to the top with their atmospheric and unique sound; and after catching them live at the Wiltern, it’s easy to see why.
Before Alt-J took the stage, however, their opening act Girli quickly became one of those memorable openers that makes you later brag to your friends, “I saw her before she became a huge pop star.” To put it succinctly, Girli put on a good old fashioned pop show. With vocal stylings that somehow invoke both Avril Lavigne and Robyn, Girli’s emotional dance tracks feel like they can be played driving down the highway with the windows rolled down, or late at night in a dark and moody bedroom. On a stripped back stage with only a small hot pink sign reading GIRLI, the eponymous singer – whose real name is Amelia Toomey – jumped around the stage in what looked like a repurposed and deconstructed prom dress with a blonde and hot pink curly shag haircut.
Her songs ranged from vulnerable dance tracks about how much it sucks to be on social media (“I Don’t Like Myself”) and screwing up every relationship (“I Really F**ked It Up”), to bombastic anthems about falling in love with your female best friend while dating a guy (“More Than a Friend”). Girli combines ’80s synth rhythms with a big pop sound reminiscent of Sleigh Bells and Santigold – songs that fit right in alongside the recent resurgence of indie sleaze, and reverence for the early 2000s music scene. Despite being only 25, her taste and musical sensibility feels perfectly suited for both millennials and Gen Z with her throwback sound and contemporary take on modern-day problems.
Speaking of a throwback sound, Alt-J knows how to set the mood for an anniversary show. With swirling stage lights, plenty of fog, and a few notes on a keyboard, the Leeds-based trio immediately transported the crowd back to 2012, the beginning of Obama’s second term (doesn’t that time seem so quaint compared to today?), and the beginning of their much-earned success. Their combined harmonizing voices paired with drummer Thom Sonny Green’s instantly recognizable rhythmic beats and keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton’s synthy notes still sound so good, particularly when back lit and illuminated by industrial bright lights coordinated to the dizzying beat.
Like any good anniversary show, the band played all 14 tracks of An Awesome Wave (including interstitials) in its entirety before taking a short break and playing other tracks in the second half. Hearing their debut record in full was a pitch-perfect match to the studio album version, but somehow still showed that the band is a decade older and wiser. Iconic tracks like “Tessellate” and “Breezeblocks” felt like bonafide show-stoppers; phones lit up every corner of the venue as everyone sang, “Triangles are my favorite shape.” (Fun fact: Hitting ALT+J on a keyboard brings up this triangle shape: ∆) Fan favorite classic “Matilda” was fully taken from singer Joe Newman and instead led by the crowd as they sang the chorus, “This is from / this is from / this is from Matilda.” The ever-popular “Fitzpleasure” washed the crowd in blood-red lights as everyone began clapping in unison before the band could even hit the chorus; it felt like Alt-J could do no wrong.
It was a testament to both the staying power of An Awesome Wave and the consistency of Alt-J that the second half of the set, which featured newer songs, felt just as lively as the first half. “Every Other Freckle” and “Left Hand Free” stand out as memorable moments that capture just what makes this band special. It’s so satisfying to see a band like Alt-J continue to prevail in an indie rock landscape that currently feels murky and ever-changing at best in a Spotify-reigning and “post-pandemic” world. They’ve managed to combine the synthy sounds of bands like Broken Bells and guitar riffs of Foals with that unique almost-falsetto voice of Joe Newman – occasionally harmonizing with a folky edge not unlike Fleet Foxes – to create a sound that feels new and special. Despite being a trio, their songs are full-bodied and fully formed without loops or gimmicks. Sure, an occasional xylophone will chime in, but Alt-J captures a mood, time, and place that somehow feels like yesterday and decades ago.
When keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton thanked the city of Los Angeles for being the first people to embrace the band outside of the U.K. and called LA their “home away from home,” the show ended just as it had been all night: the band and crowd were one.
