You know a band is special when they can spark bros to sway in unison during one song and induce raging mosh pits with the next song. 

The Wombats returned to Los Angeles after having just released their third full-length, “Glitterburg,” last month. After Cheerleader and Life In Flim warmed up the crowd, the Liverpudlians took the stage with the intense energy that has kept fans with them since 2006. Dan Haggis (drummer), Matthew “Murph” Murphy (guitars, lead vocalist) and Tord Knudsen (bassist) kicked off the night with “Your Body Is A Weapon,” an infectious cut off of their latest effort. 

The trio moved into two older tracks, “Jump Into The Fog,” and “Moving To New York” to a buzzing crowd. Following that, The Wombats took things up a notch with “Greek Tragedy,” their catchy, first single off “Glitterburg” which has the ‘ooh-ooh-oohs’ and a solid pop chorus characteristic of the English band. 

READ MORE: "Glitterburg" By The Wombats: Album Review 

By this time, everyone in the room was already drenched in sweat. If you were at the gig, you couldn’t not move to the Wombats' groove. To cut the intense jumping up and down, the band granted the packed crowd a break, playing slower tracks like “Headspace,” which has a John Hughes soundtrack vibe, and “Little Miss Pipedream,” which saw three college bros swaying with their arms around each other. It was a sight to behold for sure. Between songs, Murph told the crowd that it was “special” but also “strange” to play in Los Angeles, the city that inspired most of the new record. Between the banter and the slow jams, the audience caught their breaths and were hungry for more intense indie pop rock. 

The band quickly moved back into their uptempo tracks, playing “Kill The Director” (with the audience singing “This is no Bridget Jones” back repeatedly) and “Techno Fan,” which saw the first mosh pit of the evening. As if it was not evident before, it was blatantly obvious during these tracks that the band and every single person in the room was having the times of their lives. “F*ck yeahs!” and incessant cheers and howls echoed from every corner of the room before, during and after every song. 

Capitalizing on the crowd’s high, the band moved into “Give Me A Try” (whose video is inspired by Tinder), and announced that they’re going to pretend to end the set with “Tokyo-Vampire & Wolves.” Even though the audience knew an encore was imminent, once the band stepped off stage, everyone and their moms were impatiently and feverishly demanding an encore. After a brief break, Dan, Tord and Murph strolled back onto the stage to finish the set off with “Emoticons,” a relevant, sensual pop song off “Glitterburg.” Despite the welcoming reception to this song and all the others preceding it, the crowd knew there was more song to go—the band’s most high energy track. 

The Wombats closed off the night with “Let’s Dance To Joy Division,” an intensely energetic track that has an uplifting chorus. Every person in the room was jumping up and down shouting back “but we’re so happy! so happy!” People weren’t just singing back because that line is part of the song, but because of all the millions of bands in the world, The Wombats truly has the power to inject carefree, passionate, and intense happiness into everyone who sees them play live. 

Reach Music Editor Joyce Jude Lee here.