My first Mogwai gig, and Mrs H’s too.
I’ve been a fan since I first heard Young Team four years or so ago (it’s my loss that it took me that long to discover them). Mrs H had never heard of them.
It was our second trip to Brixton Academy this month, following a Band of Horses gig that was very well received by the majority of the crowd, but got only a luke-warm review from us. I was sincerely hoping that Mogwai were going to impress Mrs H, and help us to kick start our 2011 gigging season.
The support act were The Twilight Sad from Glasgow. They looked like lads playing a gig in a pub, and looked more than a little overwhelmed by the occasion. This endeared them to us a lot. They got into gear pretty swiftly, channelling any nerves that they had into a very tasty wall of sound that surely met the challenge set down by this glorious venue.
Mogwai are kindred spirits of theirs. They mooched on stage in a pretty unassuming and humble way, saying “Hello, we are Mogwai from Glasgow”. As I said before, we like that kind of thing.
The set was bigger, there were more twinkly lights and a bit of smoke, and they were obviously much more comfortable with the large crowd than their fellow weegies. I’d warned Mrs H that there would be very few words during the gig, and probably no singing. Despite that, Mogwai kept up the pace with constantly changing tempos and complex tunes. Only once did I become aware of the old loud-quiet-loud-quiet trick, such was their level of mastery these days . (That was when they played ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ as an encore. Mrs H dropped off during a quiet bit, and nearly wet herself when they finally unleashed hell at the end of the song).
Extremely good in parts, though there were a few lulls where my attention wandered a little. We left with a proper gig feeling, which is what should happen.
7/10
