Partway through Wolf Alice’s homecoming show at Finsbury Park this weekend, bassist Theo Ellis pointed to either side of the ground and shouted to the crowd: “I grew up over there and I live over there. You have no idea how much this means to us.”
We couldn’t know exactly what the band was feeling.
But watching them play the biggest headline show of their career a stone’s throw from where they grew up, it was impossible not to sense the significance of the occasion.
Since forming 16 years ago, the four-piece, led by magnetic frontwoman Ellie Rowsell, have been one of the defining bands of Britain’s music scene.
Yet their rise has been steadier compared to contemporaries such as The 1975 and the Arctic Monkeys.
They have always been a hit with critics – they are the only act to have had each of their first four albums nominated for the Mercury Prize – but commercial dominance has remained just out of reach.
They are yet to have a major festival headline slot and are still chasing a truly big hit (though the anthemic ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’ comes close).
But if there was ever any doubt about their stature, this show on the final day of Finsbury Park’s summer series completely banished it. Wolf Alice are one of the best live bands in the country.
After an afternoon of sets from Florence Road, KEO, Rachel Chinouriri, Lykke Li and a particularly entertaining performance by The Last Dinner Party, the crowd were more than ready for the main event.
Wolf Alice burst onto the stage with showers of shimmering confetti marking the opening of ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’, the lead single from their 2025 album The Clearing. Rowsell effortlessly alternated between delicate melodies moments and guttural roars, setting the tone for what was to come.
From this opening track, Wolf Alice played with the confidence and intensity of a band determined to make this a defining show in their career.
Galloping anthem ‘White Horses’ followed, giving drummer Joel Amey’s vocals a rare spotlight, and Rowsell swaggered effortlessly across the stage during the formidably cool ‘Formidable Cool’.
Everything clicked into place with ‘Bros’. One of the band’s earliest breakthrough songs and now a permanent fixture on Spotify’s summer indie playlists, the song is a surprisingly rare thing in the music world – an ode to friendship.
As guitarist Joff Oddie strummed the opening riff, a star-shaped screen filled with home-video footage tracing the band’s journey from cramped rehearsal rooms and tiny venues to festival stages.
No one on stage addressed it, but the implication was clear: look how far we’ve come.
This message ran through the set list, which had been perfectly curated for the occasion.
Previously retired tracks made a reappearance, such as the driving punk-infused ‘Lisbon’, and ‘White Leather’, the B-side to their debut single ‘Fluffy’ back in 2012.
During ‘The Sofa’, the highlight from The Clearing, the crowd provided one of the loudest singalong moments of the evening, as Rowsell sang about feeling “stuck in Seven Sisters, North London” – just one Tube stop away from Finsbury Park.
Most fittingly of all, the band used the encore to again return to their roots.
For the past few years, Wolf Alice have typically closed shows with the showstopping ‘Last Man on Earth’ and, of course, ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’. But on Sunday, they did something different.
First came ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’, the thrashing single from their second EP, swiftly followed by a joyous cover of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
And finally, they closed with ‘Giant Peach’, which had always been the closer pre-Don’t Delete the Kisses.
The dark love letter to London, “our dark and pretty town”, was a fitting finale.
As the track met its climax, Rowsell fell to her knees screaming into the microphone, before playing one of the band’s most stirring guitar riffs.
As the band embraced on stage while ‘Sweet Caroline’ rang around the park, Ellis’ words from earlier carried even greater weight.
For one evening, North London belonged to Wolf Alice.
Featured image credit: Alice Bathurst
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