Photos + Review: The Wombats at the House of Blues (San Diego, CA)

Roman Lewis (London, UK), Barns Courtney (London, UK), and The Wombats (Liverpool, UK)
September 28th, 2018
House of Blues in San Diego, CA

First to take the stage was solo musician, Roman Lewis who lulled the audience with his acoustic guitar and romantic voice. The audience seemed to welcome him with open arms as he joined The Wombats for the first 3 dates in California.

Shortly after, Barns Courtney stomped around the stage like he owned it and was so full of energy that I had a hard time catching him standing still for more than 5 seconds at a time. This is the kind of energy I love to capture in a show and the fact that it’s difficult to photograph just makes it a welcomed challenge. Barns had that rockstar aura about him, clearly emphasized by the leather jacket and messy long hair.

I didn’t really consider myself a Wombats fan until the release of their album Glitterbug, and I remember a period in time where that album was all that I would play in the car. Something about synth-pop rock just always put me in a great mood so I was very excited to finally get to cover one of their shows. The band is now touring in support of their newly released album, Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life, which I thought was a good mix of their old sound with something new . Something I really like about is that taken literally their lyrics don’t always seem to make much sense, and for whatever reason that appeals to me. There is a message in there somewhere. There’s more to the music than the initial lure of a danceable beat and a British accent. Overall it’s a fun band to see live despite there being a little less energy on stage than I would like. Bonus points to singer, Matthew Murphy for rocking his glitter sneakers though.