mitchables
03-04-2009, 06:33 AM
Holy shit.
Those are pretty much the two words that adequately sum up Mogwai's performance at the Tiv last night. So much so that they bear repeating, with added profanity:
Holy fucking shit.
There we go. Seriously, they were amazing. From the creeping opening chords of the opener, "The Precipice", to the overwhelming wall of death sludge of their stupidly heavy encore, "We're No Here", Mogwai melted my face off.
But first, though, we had the support act, a one-trick pony of a quasi-instrumental, all-chick band called "Beaches". I am not trying to be a gender bigot here, but Beaches went a long way towards my theory that chick bands generally are not very good. They had no imagination at all. They seemed promising at first, but it became painfully apparent pretty quickly that they only had a few good ideas and that they were determined to use them all in every song. The vocal lines, when they were present, were bland and indistinguishable. The drummer kept up the one remedial beat (complete with identical fills) for like three songs, and I'm pretty sure this one lady on the end was actually a dude, and I am positive I saw him/her ask the bassist which pedal s/he was supposed to use. In hindsight, they may just seem extra terrible because of how amazing Mogwai were, because I don't remember being this critical of them at the time.
Anyway, Mogwai. That's who I'm here to talk about. They were flawless. Note perfect, beautifully in time. Excellent stage presence. Had banter with the crowd, but weren't overly chatty - it didn't get in the way of the flow of the songs, and when they (well, mostly Stuart) spoke, everything was instantly adorable and/or hilarious because of his Scottish accent. We Australians love a good accent.
And oh my, the dynamics. The soft/loud dynamic for which Mogwai is famous sounds good on their CDs, but it is unbelievable live. They played "Mogwai Fear Satan" (which resulted in me becoming overwhelmed by a sense of childlike delirium), and it was beautiful. The song shrank to just barely a whisper before surging back with such sudden force and weight that I actually saw people jump in fright. My girlfriend actually got some sweet (albeit dodgy) footage of "Mogwai Fear Satan", as well as "Hunted By A Freak" and "I Know You Are But What Am I?", which I was highly impressed with.
Which raises my next point: the setlist was excellent. Granted, it was the "Hawk is Howling" Tour, and I think they played all but four of the tracks off that album (Danphe and the Brain, Local Authority, The Sun Smells Too Loud, and King's Meadow), there was an even mix of Hawk songs and earlier stuff, which pretty much made my night. I've never had the pleasure of seeing Mogwai live before so I was greatly treated when they played a couple songs off Mr. Beast and Happy Songs For Happy People, and one off Young Team and Rock Action. It was splendid.
Setlist:
The Precipice
Friend of the Night
Scotland's Shame
Hunted By A Freak
Mogwai Fear Satan
I Know You Are, But What Am I?
I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School
I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
Thank You Space Expert
2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
Like Herod
Batcat
Encores:
New Paths to Helicon, Part 1
We're No Here
I am pretty certain that my night was better than everyone else's March 3rd.
Those are pretty much the two words that adequately sum up Mogwai's performance at the Tiv last night. So much so that they bear repeating, with added profanity:
Holy fucking shit.
There we go. Seriously, they were amazing. From the creeping opening chords of the opener, "The Precipice", to the overwhelming wall of death sludge of their stupidly heavy encore, "We're No Here", Mogwai melted my face off.
But first, though, we had the support act, a one-trick pony of a quasi-instrumental, all-chick band called "Beaches". I am not trying to be a gender bigot here, but Beaches went a long way towards my theory that chick bands generally are not very good. They had no imagination at all. They seemed promising at first, but it became painfully apparent pretty quickly that they only had a few good ideas and that they were determined to use them all in every song. The vocal lines, when they were present, were bland and indistinguishable. The drummer kept up the one remedial beat (complete with identical fills) for like three songs, and I'm pretty sure this one lady on the end was actually a dude, and I am positive I saw him/her ask the bassist which pedal s/he was supposed to use. In hindsight, they may just seem extra terrible because of how amazing Mogwai were, because I don't remember being this critical of them at the time.
Anyway, Mogwai. That's who I'm here to talk about. They were flawless. Note perfect, beautifully in time. Excellent stage presence. Had banter with the crowd, but weren't overly chatty - it didn't get in the way of the flow of the songs, and when they (well, mostly Stuart) spoke, everything was instantly adorable and/or hilarious because of his Scottish accent. We Australians love a good accent.
And oh my, the dynamics. The soft/loud dynamic for which Mogwai is famous sounds good on their CDs, but it is unbelievable live. They played "Mogwai Fear Satan" (which resulted in me becoming overwhelmed by a sense of childlike delirium), and it was beautiful. The song shrank to just barely a whisper before surging back with such sudden force and weight that I actually saw people jump in fright. My girlfriend actually got some sweet (albeit dodgy) footage of "Mogwai Fear Satan", as well as "Hunted By A Freak" and "I Know You Are But What Am I?", which I was highly impressed with.
Which raises my next point: the setlist was excellent. Granted, it was the "Hawk is Howling" Tour, and I think they played all but four of the tracks off that album (Danphe and the Brain, Local Authority, The Sun Smells Too Loud, and King's Meadow), there was an even mix of Hawk songs and earlier stuff, which pretty much made my night. I've never had the pleasure of seeing Mogwai live before so I was greatly treated when they played a couple songs off Mr. Beast and Happy Songs For Happy People, and one off Young Team and Rock Action. It was splendid.
Setlist:
The Precipice
Friend of the Night
Scotland's Shame
Hunted By A Freak
Mogwai Fear Satan
I Know You Are, But What Am I?
I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School
I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
Thank You Space Expert
2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
Like Herod
Batcat
Encores:
New Paths to Helicon, Part 1
We're No Here
I am pretty certain that my night was better than everyone else's March 3rd.