Review of Mogwai on February 21st by Ken Ebbens.
Think of a sun-soaked Ibiza evening, a packed out club, repetitive rhythms and bass pounding out…well that is how I felt at the Portsmouth Guildhall on a freezing cold, wet February evening for Scottish post-pop, alternative/indie rock band, Mogwai.
I went along never having heard anything from Mogwai’s 11 albums since 1997 and it became apparent very quickly that I am not their audience. I must state that the band are very good at what they do, showing musicianship that their devoted fans (it was a near full house) clearly love, and fair play to them for that.
Before they came on stage, warm up Forest Swords (Matt Barnes) played repetitive rhythms and very loud bass for half an hour but far too “clubby” for my taste. The light show with images of figures and shapes on the back of the stage was the one good thing for me. The audience felt differently.
The band were in the main on a darkened stage, reminiscent of Kraftwerk, remaining pretty much in the same place on stage for the 90 minutes, letting the music be the only focal point with next to no interaction with the audience apart from frequent “thank yous”. The light show was impressive with a bank of lights augmented by right angular strip lights in various routines, adding the “club-like” atmosphere.
The wall of noise was masterfully created by the guitar/keyboard members (Stuart Braithwaite, Barry Burns, Dominic Aithchison and Alex Mackay) but special mention for me to drummer Martin Bulloch, whose excellent drumming created the bedrock for the others, coming through the mix Of the dozen or so tunes, all were instrumentals apart from tune six (I have no idea what any of the tracks were called), after 35 minutes, and tune 10, after 55 minutes, which included vocals but, for me, they were sadly lost in the “(Radio) Wall of Sound”, as Slade sang.
The music was very loud from the get-go, with repetitive chords and phrases woven into tunes, each around six or seven minutes long. In today’s music scene, it is quite unique; however, very different to instrumental bands I was brought up with, primarily The Shadows, using heavy distortion and effects to the max.
For me, I heard musical references to Muse, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, even David Bowie for one intro. The audience clearly lapped it all up, so I was very much in a minority and fair play to Mogwai for still being relevant 30 years on.
For the encore, the band threw everything including the kitchen sink with the intense, frenetic instrumentisation ending with them quietly leaving the stage with a guitar left playing feedback, a throwback to Classic Rock bands of the 1960s and 70s.
In summary, in my younger years this would have been a prog band, an alternative to mainstream, and for that Mogwai do a great job. I admired the musicianship if not the style.
– Ken Ebbens, Presenter on The Flash Radio
Image courtesy of Natalie Grays.
Check out another review from The News here!