review, by ben myers, published in kerrang!

Review score: 4/5

there's five young men onstage, some of whom are sporting beards. one of them is bare-footed. another is sitting on a stool with his back to the audience, a hunting hat perched on his head.
it's the day after st patrick's day in dublin and they're playing a song called 'May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door' very quietly. Just who the hell do Mogwai think they are?
It's like this, in a time when most youngsters pick up guitars and hammer out pogo-tastic, ram-a-lama, fizzy songs and where 'alternative' is an increasingly meaningless term, Mogwai are making truly confrontational music and completely subverting the norm.
Take the aforementioned opener for 'May Nothing...', for instance, which begins like a soundcheck and builds into a white noise tsunami that crashes down onto the cool and curious who've gathered here. Or listen to the way the apocalyptic suicide music of 'Like Herod' reverberates around this plush theatre. It's Black Sabbath trying to be subtle. It's German Krautrockers Can scoring the music to 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. It's the sound of a band who are so anti-rock star that they are, in fact completely rock 'n' roll. It's when Mogwai are about to play the same chord for the 50th time and have completely alienated the audience that you realise that this is all part of the performance. It's two fingers to standard procedure and a ritual burning of the rock 'n' roll rulebook. Something snaps and they unleash a monstrous, biblical sound, leaving us in the grasp of some kind of musical meltdown. We live to hear the crepuscular crescendo of 'Ithica 27-9', though its grand sound rejecting the need for showmanship. Mogwai are aural vandals intent on bastardising everything that has gone before, lager-swigging maestros with violence in their fingers.
And that Mr (Marilyn) Manson, is what makes for some really frightening music.
They slip away like covert commandos and we're left wondering what the hell it is that we've just seen and heard, and why it makes us feel so good.

High point: The gargantuan 'Ithica 27-9'.
Low point: Flutes - always a no-no.
Best onstage quote: "Has anybody got a hangover?" - Stuart Braithwaite on the previous night's activities.
Verdict: Destroy all music!

[Picture of Stuart holding up his guitar with the caption - Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite: "Does anyone else want a go?"]

review and comments, by damien

mogwai make their triumphant return to Dublin.

First up, soundcheck. I could hear it through a big metal door from outside. They soundchecked for about half an hour, noodling on bits of helicon 2, xmas steps, ithica, etc and playing full versions of happiness and cody.

After we got in and endured the shit support band (the plague monkeys) and a complete masturbation of a projected film by the promoter (faux-trendy DJ Donal Dineen ---> a prick), the Gwai hit the stage at about half 9. Played the 9 above songs for about 75 mins, including herod as an encore... should we feel privilaged about that one?

Highlights were ithica (4 coming up to the front and facing the crowd before exploding into crescendos of lovely noise), xmas (no matter how much I knew what was coming, it was still the most astounding preformance of any song by any band, ever) and herod (ending in mindfuck lashings of noise and going onto stereodee-esque territory with three men flaying the fuck out of various drums and symbols. Cody was gorgeous live, stuart was a little unsure of his singing, but it only made it seem more poignent and 'emo' (as the kids say). The crowd was for the most part good, a lot quieter then i'd expected, but some fools started to hand clap along bon jovi style to the start of xmas steps (!?!?!?!) and there was the obligatory moshers for like herod (the looked like verve fans). Quote of the night from stuart on the slower nature of the new material... "You're a lively bunch tonight..... more then I can say for us... its fuckin 14 beats per minute up here".

Afterwards I convinced stuart to take off his hat, and lo & behold he actually has a bit of growth. Martin said they got 5 grand for the gig and apparently the t-shirts were so expensive (14 quid) cos the venue lumped a load onto the price. the stage was also about 5-6 feet from the front barrier. and the bouncers were pricks. (moral of the story : next time they come over, let *me* promote them). Overall a phenominal gig... the lads seemed pleased with it themselves, too.

review, by paul o reilly

This was my first time seeing mogwai live, having missed them the last time because i hadn't discovered them then. Anyway, entering the olympia that night, little did i know that i would leave thru the same doors absolutley speechless. Those of you who've seen them live will understand what i felt. That night they transformed he way I listened to music. They opened with May nothing but..., followed by Helicon 2 and Ithica. They played a satanic version of x-mas steps as well a the other 2 tracks from the ep. They also previewed CODY .The "last" song was helicon1, which nearly brought tears to my eyes.WOW. The encore was a gargantuan like herod. Teasing us with barely audible guitars before spewing out NOIZE. My god!!, if only the bands chart-topping were as good.

My first mogwai experience was the most amazing experiene of my life. I pray for the day they return to irish shores. mogwai make the world go 'round.