The Wombats at The Truman, Kansas City MO (2026-02-19)

No, your eyes weren’t deceiving you- that was a six-foot wombat dancing on stage in a Sporting KC soccer jersey, playing a trombone!

That was part of the scene as Liverpool, UK post-punk indie-pop band, The Wombats, returned to Kansas City with a show at The Truman, on one of the final shows of their current Oh! The Tour, in support of last year’s full-length, Oh! The Ocean.

Ahead of all that was an opening set of self-described Appalachian Possum rock, a raw blend of Americana, Indie, Mountain Folk, and Rock, courtesy of Boone, NC five-piece, Cigarettes @ Sunset.

The group (Garrett Dellinger- rhythm guitar, lead vocals; Wells Whitman- bass; Ethan Moore- drums; Sarah Vann- violin; and Ryland Bagbey- lead guitar) have a LP, couple of EPs and several singles under their belt (including their latest song, “Out for Blood”), and while as energetic as the headliners, it seemed a somewhat strange musical pairing to have these two bands on the bill (even though actual ‘possums’ and ‘wombats’ are both marsupials, those that carry their young in pouches).

Add to that, we initially though the band might have been from the area with bassist Whitman proudly sporting a Kansas Jayhawks shirt and crying, “Rock Chalk!” a few times early into their half-hour opening set.

The band came out on all cylinders, declaring, “this country needs a face lift!” on the blistering “Rewind”- its urgent rough edges smoothed out by Vann’s elegant violin, “Body Bag” was about consorting with a vampire, and “Theresa” was about a not well-liked ahem, associate of the band.

“Old Bleached Hair” was written by Dellinger during a low point of his life, “Great, Kid” was about achieving your dreams, and the set ended with “Pavement”, their most viral song to date, about passing around a certain herb and hanging out on the sidewalk.

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We’ve had The Wombats on our radar for almost two decades, since their first 7” singles before a first album, to then the resulting international fame that followed, and we’re like a proud parent watching their ‘musical secret’ get put out into the world, for so many more to enjoy.

The trio has since spread from their Liverpool beginnings to separately re-locate around the globe (guitarist Murph lives in SoCal; bassist Tord returned to Norway, and drummer Dan Haggis is in London), but the band still manages to get together for new music and an extended tour like this- showing the initial magic that sparked them, remains gleefully intact.

With newest album, Oh! The Ocean, the three-piece leave much of their trademark synths behind, for a more laid-back, beach-influenced sound, though Murph’s dour lyrical content still pervades, proving you can’t completely take the Liverpool mope out of the lads.

The eighty-five-minute set began where things basically started, with 2006 single, “Moving to New York”, still frantic and hitting as the crowd shouted back, “Christmas came early!” to the band, exactly on cue. Another jumping single, 2011’ s “Techno Fan” helped the set the tone for a fun night ahead.

The first of the new album’s songs, “Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come” the record’s opener, fit in well amongst the older songs, and found the crowd swaying back and forth on a song that reveals Murph’s continued introvert tendencies.

Appropriately on 2022’s “Ready for the High”, the band was joined mid-set by the aforementioned trombone-playing wombat (drummer Dan Haggis was wearing a matching Sporting KC kit as well), looking straight out of a fever dream, or a rave hallucination (the costumed varmint would also return with a few friends during the encore).

“Pink Lemonade” was one of a few lemon-themed songs on the setlist and Murph mused that he couldn’t remember the band ever playing a bad show in Kansas City, so was appreciative of the local audiences, both past and present.

The rhythm section would depart the stage for a short acoustic break of Murph performing an acoustic version of 2018’s “Lethal Combination,” a song about he and his future wife both waking up after an hour knocked out drinking, and being told to exit a bar. “Too lost for therapy, guilty by association,” and realizing they were a match for each other, no matter how imperfect.

Murph described their lounge-like recast of “Lemon to a Knife Fight” as a “horrendous steak house version” of the single, although it still went down very well, and lamented that he’d likely shed a tear in a couple nights, at the tour’s end in Nashville. The main set would end with the clap-a-along on “Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)” and the song that ended their last performance in town, 2018’s “Turn”.

The encore was a two-song dance party, beginning with 2015’s “Greek Tragedy”, a “hits like ecstasy” impactful song that surprisingly went viral five years after its release, thanks to an unsolicited shared remix on TikTok, making it an even bigger hit than on its initial release.

The night would end near where the setlist began, back in 2007 with another of their earliest hits, “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” and the crowd and band clapping and chanting, “So Happy!”, a fitting expulsion of collective joy and temporary escape from all the perils of the real world just outside. And that’s how the crowd looked as they said goodbye to The Wombats until their next time in town – so happy.

ALL PHOTOS BY BRANDON CLASEN

National / International act coming through the Midwest / Kansas City area? Please email details to johnc@weheartmusic.com with a good lead time to be considered for Show Preview and Show Coverage consideration.