Wolf Alice - West Hollywood, July 2025

July 22, 2025; Troubadour, Los Angeles. I always think it's class when an artist with substantial appeal plays a smaller-capacity venue. In the case here, Wolf Alice did two surprise shows at West Hollywood's landmark Troubadour as their first U.S. dates since 2022 (a bit of a thank you to L.A., where they had recorded The Clearing). Wolf Alice is one of those bands who are unimpeachably cool while still coming across as approachable, and here they bring stadium-sized enthusiasm to an intimate 300-cap venue in a way that shows how keyed into the wavelength of their fans they are. Ellie Rowsell is, in a phrase, crushing it. Her soprano is killer in general, but to go from the vocal soar of "The Sofa" to the dreamy phrasing of "Bros" and then the riot grrrl punch of "Yuk Foo" in the space of 10 minutes is what honed talent sounds like. I love that Theo Ellis (hype man/bassist, all-star at both these roles, and an obviously solid dude) is determined to get the crowd pumped about it being a Tuesday night in the middle of the set. When I got to see Wolf Alice at the Wiltern a few months after this show, it was a Monday night, and damn did they ever make it feel like it was the end of the workweek!