(no encore)

thanks dominic

m4 music festival

reviews/comments

from raphael:

mogwai's first gig in zürich since 1999 took place in a great venue which is usually reserved for theatre performances. that was the good news. negative was the fact that mogwai were headlining a festival organized and sponsored by switzerland's biggest wholesale company. as a result you had lots of trendy folks who had no idea about mogwai and kept on chatting throughout the concert. this was a pity because mogwai's first set after a half year's break set was rather intimate. barry performed at the keyboard for most of the gig which created a giant but less punchy wall of sound. the band not only performed a number of rare live tracks, but also resurrected 'ex-cowboy'. when i spoke to dominic half a year ago he swore he'd never play that song again (because he wrote and hated it, as he said). highlights included a great opening with 'superheroes', the slow-motion-like 'black spider', a giant version of '2 rights' plus the compulsory showdown with 'megasnake' and 'we're no here' in which stuart, barry and john competed against sonic youth's feedback orgies. however, after 80 impressing minutes the five left the stage without encore. nobody knew if it was due to the festival's schedule or (more likely) the sometimes annoying crowd.