NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
When I saw that Wolf Alice was playing at Stage AE in Pittsburgh, I thought it was great that they were playing larger venues. They are an amazing band, especially live, and are not to be missed. When I arrived, I discovered that they were playing on Stage AE’s “club stage”, significantly smaller than the main stage. It still boggles my mind how Wolf Alice, who recently won the Brit Award for Group of the Year, are still playing such small venues here in the States. Americans are definitely missing out.
One person that’s still also missing is guitarist Joff Oddie. Wolf Alice had posted that Joff would not be able to make some of the early dates of the tour. His temporary replacement Joey Keefe, from American indie band Family of the Year, supposedly learned the songs in 48 hours!!! I hope everything is well with Joff and we hope to see him back on tour with the band soon!
Opening for Wolf Alice was a twenty-one year old crooner from LA, Charlie Hickey. I had a chance to preview his upcoming debut album “Nervous at Night” and it is a definitely must listen. His music is part folk, part pop, part country, with lyrics that have that in-your-face honesty you see often nowadays. His voice is crystal clear and smooth whether he’s singing on his own or accompanied by backup singers and the work is a surprising debut for such a young performer. I can see why Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records signed and release his record.
When you see Hickey on stage with his band, he looks older than his twenty-on years and has good presence, although he wasn’t very talkative. Perhaps it’s my age more than anything else but he reminded me of a young James Taylor. His voice control in a live setting shows his incredible talent. When I met him after the show, somehow he looked much younger. Very interesting how a persona can change when on-stage. You should definitely pre-save his upcoming record and take a listen. I’ll be listening in the mornings as I sit in my hammock overlooking Lake Erie.
Click on photos to enlarge
The club stage at Stage AE (sold out) was not meant to hold a band such as Wolf Alice. There just isn’t enough space to contain the energy unleashed by the front trio of Ellie Rowsell (lead vocalist and guitarist), Theo Ellis (bassist) and stand-in guitarist Joey Keefe. The first song “Smile” cranked up the power to the top setting right away. However, the crowd seemed a little more subdued compared to Wolf Alice’s shows at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC back in November. Nevertheless, the show was incredible with a large focus on songs from their 2021 record “Blue Weekend”, which was nominated for a Mercury Award and was the best album of 2021 on my personal list. Keefe was more than acceptable filling in for Oddie, while probably not quite as animated on stage. If anything, I think his amp needed to be turned up on many songs because he was jamming up there! After the set was wrapped with a raucous performance of “Giant Peach”, Wolf Alice came back for an encore with a beautiful rendition of “The Last Man on the Earth” and the always fun “Don’t Delete the Kisses”. After that very satisfying set, I hope the next time I see Wolf Alice, they will be playing to a capacity crowd in a larger venue.
Click on photos to enlarge
