May 11, 2006
Mogwai Lets Out Mr. Beast at the 9:30 Club
The last time this reviewer saw Mogwai, they were playing with Bardo Pond at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles in 2001. They were touring for “Rock Action” at the time, and they came across as shy, Scottish nerds, noodling with their guitars while the audience just stared in amazement. The Mogwai that played the 9:30 Club on Wednesday was the same band, plus a whole lot of keyboards.
The great thing about Mogwai is that they aren’t trying to craft catchy, radio-friendly songs or pose on stage as the girls giggle and take pictures. Mogwai loves to play their guitars.
If you pick up the special edition of the new album, Mr. Beast, you’ll be treated to a bonus DVD of them sitting around playing guitar and trying to coax different sounds from their instruments using every pedal imaginable. That’s the Mogwai you see on stage. However, the newer material, or at least everything since Rock Action, includes a lot more than guitars, evident by the band’s first two songs in the set: the older “Hunted by a Freak” with its robotic-like vocals and organ swells, and “Friend of the Night,” which includes a beautiful piano accompaniment.
But once they got past the first half of the set, the songs got heavier and heavier. The highlight was “Ratts of the Capital,” off their last CD, 2003's Happy Songs for Happy People. After starting off the song with a light guitar intro, the bass dropped in like it was announcing the end of the world. Seriously, it’s the heaviest, scariest bass line to ever be included in an album with the word “happy” in the title. "Christmas Steps" off of 1999's Come On Die Young. (Listening to my iPod this morning, I realized my mistake in citing that song as "Ratts of the Capital.") As the song built up, Barry Burns (taking a break from keyboards) jumped in with an even heavier guitar line, and the whole song finally exploded.
You can’t help thinking that when you watch Mogwai, you’re watching boys playing with toys – an idea made even more evident by their nonexistent stage presence, which consisted mostly of thank yous. But those boys sure can do some cool things with their toys.
Setlist
Hunted by a Freak
Friend of the Night
Summer
Travel is Dangerous
Stanley Kubrick
Acid Food
Ithica 27 ? 9
Yes! I Am a Long Way From Home
Ratts of the Capital Christmas Steps
Stop Coming to my House
Mogwai Fear Satan
Glasgow Mega-Snake
Encore
You Don’t Know Jesus
We’re No Here
Photos by Kyle Gustafson. More photos can be found here.
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Hey good review...definitely bummed I missed it now.
The show was quite good. For people who went and want more ambient awesome rock, check out Mono and Pelican tonight @ The Black Cat. I'll be there for day two of intense guitar madness.
Scarlet, the hope is you were too busy dancing it up to Ghostland Observatory at the Velvet Lounge.
I'm not totally sure about that setlist but I can never remember the names of Mogwai songs. It was a good show and also the first time I'd seen them since tour with Bardo Pond. You can listen to/download this show from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5384035
no word on jack rose?
I make it a habit of not responding to comments on anything I write, but I'll make an exception this time since I should've mentioned this in the review. Because of a work obligation, I came in halfway through Jack Rose's set, so I didn't feel like I should comment one way or another. However, commenters are free to say nice or bad things about Jack Rose in my stead.
Great summary.
Jack Rose = ermmm...one part folk..one part carny barker? Fine for home listening...not a very engaging live show.
Agree with the previous post re: setlist. There was, in fact, no "Fear Satan" this time around, but there was a blistering version of Helicon 2.
Sorry...my bad...Helicon 1!
Yep. "New Paths to Helicon Part 1."