mogwai were joined by luke sutherland on violin on xmas steps, and by a 'mystery guitarist' on like herod

headlining the evening session stage

reviews/comments

from nme:

mogwai - radio 1 evening session stage 8.45 pm saturday

it was like being told to fuck off by god.

if you never saw hendrix, the who, the sex pistols or nirvana in their prime then don¹t worry. if you've witnessed mogwai play a set this brilliant, this intense, this...this...transcendentally magnificent, then you've seen - actually seen - one of the all-time great rock bands. this performance was one of the most extraordinary this cynical, jaded, burnt out, easily-bored hack has ever seen. i am in love again.

so cowed are we by the past that we deny the very possibility that there might, just might, be giants living amongst us. don¹t give a fuck about longevity. don¹t even really give a fuck about the stuff mogwai do - like the forthcoming single, that sucks. rock is about the here, the now. rock is about the prime cuts. and right here, right now, mogwai fucking rule.

take just one song. 'helicon 1'. it's a sonic air raid. literally. it starts with a low drone. the drone gets louder. percussion spatters the sky. the bombs fall, hideously graceful. and then the explosion. a bell tolls. fuckin' hell! this isn't indie - this is shostakovich on crack! solid, gleaming, flawless heavy fucking metal.

watch the skies.

steven wells

from neil comfort:

the radio 1 tent is packed to the hilt. i've been queued up at the front for the past two bands in order to get a decent view and believe me, it was the only way to do it. i've seen mogwai twice before (aberdeen and glasgow virgin) but both times they felt compromised - they played brilliantly, sure, but the audiences were made up of curious newcomers rather than real fans. it was as if mogwai were expected to try really hard in order to impress them; like the crowd were doing them a favour in some way.
tonight there's no doubt about it; everyone is here because they love mogwai, and they want to see them do really well. they do not disappoint. from the moment stuart starts swaying to ithica's intro, then bouncing on the spot, then finally attempting to bury inside his own stomach for that loud bit, it's clear that they'll never better this performance for poise and timing. they play in near darkness, lit by a few 'moody' colours, with about five mirrorballs spilling light over the audience - a cliche i know, but hey, grreat light show, guys!
my own highlight would have to be watching the band as ex-cowboy imperceptibly moves from a murmured guitar line into a colossal swathe of noise that threatens to make the canvas ignite - then stops and does it all over again. the new song, 'stanley kubrick', is a simple but completely gorgeous tune reminiscent of a vocal-free 'cody'. they finally end 'like herod' in a sea of feedback as luke sutherland returns to mangle his violin, stuart screams imperceptibly down his microphone, and a mystery figure jumps onstage in a kappa hooded tracksuit to knock hell out of stuart's geetar. the white noise echoes around the tent for a full five minutes after everyone leaves the stage, and still everyone remains rooted to the spot, unable to believe what they've just seen, but forced to conclude (as if it needed proving) that compared with this tell-all-your-friends, what-were-you-doing-when?... kind of a gig, chancing headliners blur are without a shadow of a doubt shite.