Wolfmother O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London — 29 July 2026

Wolfmother

O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London — 29 July 2026

For Aussies, these guys aren’t bad at all.

Wolfmother arrived at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire with their 20th Anniversary Tour and proceeded to remind us that there’s still plenty of life left in the old-fashioned art of plugging in, turning it up and letting the riffs loose.

The venue was clearly packed with half-cut Antipodeans out for a good time, and judging by the volume coming from both stage and audience, nobody had travelled across the world to sit quietly at the back.

From the opening blast of “Dimension”, through “White Unicorn”, “Woman”, “Apple Tree” and “Midnight Train”, it was clear that subtlety wasn’t particularly high on tonight’s agenda. At times the sound was so blatantly Led Zeppelinesque that you half expected Robert Plant to wander onstage looking for his missing microphone. The riffs, the groove, the vocal delivery — all carried more than a passing whiff of seventies Zeppelin.

Still, at least there wasn’t a lead balloon in sight.

It was a surprisingly entertaining gig, played throughout with real conviction — pun very much intended. The band attacked the material with enthusiasm, and the audience responded in kind, making the Shepherd’s Bush Empire feel more like a particularly lively corner of Sydney than West London.

The set wandered through the Wolfmother catalogue with “Pyramid”, “Mind’s Eye”, “New Moon Rising”, “California Queen” and “Feelin Love”, before “Where Eagles Have Been”, “Vagabond” and “Colossal” set the scene for the inevitable arrival of “Joker & the Thief”.

And then there was the encore: “Love Train” followed by “Victorious”. Job done.

For a band whose ancestors may have arrived in Australia under circumstances suggesting that criminal tendencies were once considered a perfectly legitimate reason for an extended overseas holiday, there were remarkably few signs of such behaviour tonight. Quite the opposite — these particular Aussies were model citizens, apart from making a considerable amount of noise in Shepherd’s Bush.

And bloody good noise it was too.

Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another twenty years to see them back on the road. A new, hard-hitting Wolfmother album would be very welcome indeed — perhaps they could call it Criminal Tendencies. After tonight, I’d certainly be first in the queue.

Not bad at all, mate.