support from ganger

review, by 'shippy'

here's the set list which my roomate grabbed after the show and is now posted in our kitchen.
the show was incredible, as was expected. ganger was good and got better as they played thorugh their set. the main (?) mogwai guitarist (sorry, dont know who's who, the chubbier one, without the beard) played second drums during the last ganger song, and the 2nd ganger drummer came up and played 3rd drums. so three drummers. good craziness. they were just screwing around and looked to be having a wonderful time the whole night. i think mogwai played over an hour and 45 minutes. the drummer got kinda annoyed and threw a towel from the side of the stage at the guitarist and the ganger drummer because they kept playing (both on drums) at the end of like herod with only the bearded guitarist (who plays flute on fear satan) playing keyboard. oh, and i am spoonbender opened. and they are great. thanks. they are playing again tonight at the same place, but as the guitarist said, they will be playing "inferior" songs.

thanks for the review!

another review, by mike

several people recommended that I listen to some of their releases before seeing them live, but that goes against my general formula and history of live performance, and I figured why fuck with the maker. After all, if I could become the Manics fan that I have become as a result of attending a Manics concert having no idea of what to expect, then there really is no reason to change.
I haven't heard the tape yet, but I am hoping that it sounds really good, because I can imagine listening to the live performance a lot, but I can't imagine buying their albums unless I can find them really cheaply (at first). This also fits into my Manics formula; after seeing them, I spent about 8 months listening to the live tape until I bought used copies of the US CDs.

anyway, Mogwai were truly wonderful. Some of their songs were a bit Ganger-ish (ie, they lasted a few minutes longer than they should have) but I felt that they had excellent stage chemistry, and their musical progressions were quite well rehearsed. I liked how they would play softly for a long time, and suddenly get loud all at the same time (ie, simultaneously) - I'm not sure if it was the result of their sound engineer just knowing _when_ to boost the levels, or what. I got worried the first time this happened, because I didn't want my tape to overload, so a few times I had to check my DAT.

I also liked how they ended the show with multiple drummers, even if the last song was a bit Ganger-ish as well. I must admit that the sight of two male (ie, non-female) men playing the drums in a band makes me think of two straight men performing oral sex (ie, giving head) to each other, although one friend said that it was more akin of two straight men handjobbing each other. I also liked how the two drummers were facing each other; it made me think that the drummer with his back to the audience was licking his lips and making severe facial sexual overtones to the drummer facing the audience, but another friend said that they were probably watching each other to keep in tune/beat with each other. A probable and legitimate-sounding excuse, but most likely just an excuse to hide the non-sexual sexual overtones.

Incidentally, Ganger ended their set with two members of Mogwai guest-drumming, so they had a triple-drummer finale. And all drummers drumming were male! Oooh the images... Stuart is really cute with his balding and shortness... his physical stature really reminded me of when I first saw James at the MSP show... looking very un-like your typical lead singer/etc of a band. Best of all, Mogwai are/were selling their "Blur: Are Shite" tshirts, for only US$15 (ie, UK£8.50 to 9.50, based on exchange rate fluctuations), which may be cheaper than what they were going for in the UK!

thanks, mike!