For the 4th le-gig-cy post, I write about seeing The Wombats’ Matt Murphy (Murph’s) solo project, Love Fame Tragedy, on the 29th Feb 2020.
Before The Gig:
As a big fan of The Wombats, it was natural I would hear about the new venture of their front man. The Wombats had just been on a hot streak, releasing “Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life”. Their most relevant and successful album in years bringing them back to the forefront of the indie scene.
After touring this album for way over a year to growing crowds both domestically and internationally, Murph wanted to try something completely new. So Love Fame Tragedy was born.
Before the time of the gig, the band had 8 songs released. Most of which were from their debut EP “I Don’t Want To Play The Victim, But I’m Really Good At It”. It was a strong set of tracks. Each had the fundamental Murph touches, like his signature lyrical style, but felt different and distinct from The Wombats work.
The Gig:
The concert ended up being one of the funniest, intimate and outright bizarre gigs I’d ever been to.
There were two support bands playing that night: MiG 15 and Full Colour. Both were worth going early for, getting the crowd ready and warmed up for the main event.
After what seemed to be an eternity, Murph and his band entered the small stage. It was a different Murph than I had grown accustomed to watching The Wombats live. The big presence of a man performing to several thousand people was exchanged for a more personal almost vulnerable character.
The band performed all 8 of their released songs plus a bunch of new ones. At the time I remember 5150 and Multiply standing out from the new selection. Each track was introduced by Murph, telling us a little more about what each track meant. This is where James and his shelf came into gig legend…
The crowd was told the next song was about growing up and being an adult. This is when James, a fairly unsuspecting member of the crowd, shouted out “I put a shelf up today!”. What was resulted was a hilarious interaction between James and Murph discussing the intricacies of this shelf. This topic kept coming up after every song with banter being thrown back and forth between James and the bands lead. It was later revealed that James had help in putting his shelf up, making him only “Half a lad”. Eventually Murph gave into the crowd pressure and allowed James up on stage grabbing a picture before resuming the rest of the gig uninterrupted.
After The Gig:
Love Fame Tragedy have continued to consistently release new tracks over the lockdown period. Most notably the release of the projects first full album “Wherever I Go, I Want To Leave”. Its a collection of all the singles released prior by the band plus an extra 8 tracks. This makes for a 17 track behemoth of an album. Full of fun, yet intricate indie pop and rock.
Some of my picks from the album would be: “5150”, “My Cheating Heart”, “Please Don’t Murder Me (Part 2)” and “Backflip”. All of these songs are worth a listen. If they take your fancy, make sure to listen though the full album as there are many more brilliant tracks.
Sadly the bands UK tour had to be postponed as a result of lockdown. I myself was hoping to see Murph twice in two days with both Love Fame Tragedy and The Wombats at the Neighbourhood Weekender.
As for what happened to James and his shelf, I guess we’ll never know…
