The Wombats "smash it" at Reading Festival

Mention The Wombats and chances are thoughts instantly hark back to the mid 2000s. On the NME stage at Reading, the band showcase why they're so much more than a throwback. “It's an absolute pleasure to be here!” frontman Matthew Murphy declares to rapturous crowd before him. “We were kind of worried - Sunday night…” he alludes. Such concern was unwarranted. Packing the festivals largest tent to its limits, the outfit are on top form. Fuelled by a new electricity, the classics sound fresher than ever, but it’s the groups more recent material that really get things in motion. With latest album ‘Glitterbug’ already over a year old, songs such as ‘Be Your Shadow’ and ‘Greek Tragedy’ are instantaneous sing alongs, whilst the likes of ‘Moving To New York’ and ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ are every bit the all-consuming dancefloor-fillers they always have been. “This is the end of your festival – let’s fucking smash it!” Murphy proclaims as the group reach the end of their set a few moments early. Riffing off against each other to chants of “smash it!”, not a single second is left to waste.