When Ellie Rowsell straps on the Flying V, only good things follow.
On Sunday (7/5) the singer/guitarist of Wolf Alice had already blazed through 20 tunes from the quartet's four studio albums and EP when she and the band broke into the familiar Nirvana strains of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Then she sang opening lines of the classic tune: "Load up on guns / bring your friends."
Truth of the matter is many of Rowsell, Joff Oddie (guitar), Theo Ellis (bass), and Joel Amey's (drums) friends were probably in Finsbury Park among the 45,000.
Deemed their Homecoming Show, Wolf Alice were making their joyful return to their beloved London on a bill that included fellow Londoners The Last Dinner Party, Rachel Chinouriri, and Keo.
Wolf Alice has been a band for about 16 years. Rowsell and Oddie founded it as an acoustic duo in London in 2010. The current quartet has been in place since 2012.
Over the last decade Wolf Alice have played very few cover songs. "Teen Spirit" is their first time covering the Grunge staple.
To date it has been performed 4,221 times by 808 artists. No one has rocked it more than Tori Amos who has played it 227 times.
Finsbury Park opened in August 1869 as one of London’s first Victorian public parks. Over time it has become one of the city's great outdoor rock and festival fields.
Last year Drake headlined there during the Download Festival. The days leading up to Wolf Alice's Sunday show, Kasabian headlined on Saturday and Billy Clyro was the top bill on Friday.
The park has hosted shows featuring Oasis, The Stone Roses, Pulp, Rage Against the Machine, Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, Sam Fender, and Fontaines D.C.
One of the tunes that made the setlist was "Gospel Oak" that will be released on a three-song 7-inch on August 21st along with “Hit The Sky” and the Roches' cover "Hammond Song."
In announcing it last week the band explained, "these are a few songs we made during The Clearing that didn’t make it on the final record, but are ones we love very much, including a cover with two of our fave singers Julia Cumming and Bria Salmena - we’re happy to have found a home for them for you to hear. Enjoy."
Wolf Alice now heads to other European festivals before jetting to North America for shows in NYC, Chicago and Montreal. Then they fly back to Europe in August.
In September they are back in the States where they will be warming up the Olivia Rodrigo concerts on the east coast and Chicago. Grab your tickets off their website while you can.
The Clearing 2026 remaining dates
7/08 Mad Cool Festival, Madrid, Spain
7/10 NOS Alive, Lisbon, Portugal
7/12 Exhibition Park, Newcastle, United Kingdom
7/15 KüçükÇiftlik Park, Istanbul, Turkey
7/17 Phill Good Festival, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
7/19 Vienna Open Air, Vienna, Austria
7/26 Tramlines, Sheffield, United Kingdom
7/29 Pier 17, New York, NY
7/30-8/02 Lollapalooza, Chicago, IL
7/31 Osheaga Festival, Montreal, QC, Canada
8/02 Kendal Calling, Kendal, United Kingdom
8/11 Sziget Festival, Budapest, Hungary
8/14 Winterthurer Musikfestwochen, Winterthur, Switzerland
8/19 Lukiškės Prison 2.0, Vilnius, Lithuania
8/21 Rockowizna Festival, Poznan, Poland
8/23 Green Man Festival, Brecon Beacons, United Kingdom
8/29 Custom House SQ, Belfast, United Kingdom
9/19 Shaky Knees, Atlanta, GA
9/25 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Hartford, CT
9/26 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Hartford, CT
9/27 All Things Go, Columbia, MD
9/29 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Pittsburgh, PA
9/30 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Pittsburgh, PA
10/03 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Washington, DC
10/04 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Washington, DC
10/07 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Charlotte, NC
10/08 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Charlotte, NC
10/11 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Chicago, IL
10/12 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Chicago, IL
10/15 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Boston, MA
10/17 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Boston, MA
10/18 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Boston, MA
10/21 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Montreal, QC, Canada
10/22 The Unraveled Tour - Olivia Rodrigo, Montreal, QC, Canada
