bl!
bright light ! gigs

mogwai @ the astoria, london, uk 23/01/1999


setlist

  • may nothing but happiness come through your door
  • helicon 2
  • xmas steps
  • ithica 27-9
  • ex-cowboy
  • kappa
  • helicon 1
  • like herod

    nme 'brats' show. bonny prince billy [aka will oldham], clinic and bob tilton supporting


    reviews

    from 'guitar boy':

    they didn't play for all that long (no fear stan! boo!), but the closing like herod went on for at least 25 minutes, with several mad types pogoing like fuck.... i got severely crushed down t'front, but it was an amazing aural experience at the time.

    from tom barnes:

    first up tonite we encounter the sonic onslaught of Bob Tilton. indeed, the band are playing as my 5 friends and I (the other 3 members of my band, joel, steve, my little bro' j, dan from pathos and phillip valen), and at first they sound very, very good. actually I mistook them for being a new band, not realising that they have been going for some years, and have never been heard of because they refuse to talk to the nme or play anywhere with a floor space of over 4 square feet. the band are pretty good on the whole, although, after witnessing a whole set leaves me a little less excited than at first. they play what is basically early mogwai style songs (along the lines of ithica 27 0 9, angels vs aliens etc. with vocals. and additional ingredients being slint, fugazi, and blonde redhead. unfortunately their vocalist is appalling. apart from the fact that he a) has the dullest voice imaginable (apart from morrissey) b) looks like the dullest rock star imaginable and c) serves no beneficial function in an other wise damn fine band, he's just a twat. simple as that. so all in all, not bad. one other thing I noticed was that when their songs went into the much needed heavy sections the guitar riffs were too complex and just sounded like a mess. a good opening for Clinic then? well... yes, in terms of the fact that the music was pretty good, and everyone was ready for a good nite. unfortunately clinic ruined this by being fairly awful. no. I don't like clinic. shame really, I was looking forward to seeing them after seeing pictures of them in their surgeons uniforms and hearing of john peels adoration for them. to me its just bad pop facading (?) under some kind of alternative banner. hmm... to Bonnie Prince Billy then. well, basically, this guy makes me sick. literally. yes, during will oldham / palace / palace brothers etc... set I fell privy to feelings of extreme nausea, a ten minute blindness (honestly!), a small session of chundering into the darkness and shivering and stuff. THIS GUY SHOULD BE BANNED! more dangerous than marilyn manson, charles manson, or even, dare we believe it, mansun. have you seen the photo in the nme review? this dude is not from this side of eternity... and he was bloody awful too. Good Oh! So, to the greatly anticipated.....mogwai... who are absolutely incredibly amazingly MIND BLOWING! opening with new tune "may only happiness come through your door", the kappa kids (dominic: trousers, shirt : stuart: flappy ear hat thing, button sport pants (saving grace:hirameka hi-fi tee) john: a respectably kappa free zone: martin: yet another stupid hat: new guy barry burns: button sport pants) whet our appetites which are more than satisfied over the next hour or so. The pretty hot "helicon 2" surfaces next, the band taking to a seated performance and dominics bare feet paraded to the astoria. he must be taking the piss. 2 'gwai members are sporting beards tonite (dominic and barry), and we are forced to ask ourselves "what are they like?" if they're trying to make a comment on the 'alternative c4 kids' then good on 'em. of course c4 does not particularly acknowledge them either (nme premier shows, c4, sat 6 february), deciding against showing highlights of tonites gig, and showing ONE mogwai tune. which suxx. next up is the highlight of the entire show, an awesome rendition of "xmas steps" (or is that "christmas steps"?) when dominic comes in with the bass the anticipation is...unbearable, and when it reaches its peak of hyper-distortion that stomach turning feeling is evoked... it is utter, utter bliss. "ithica 27 ( 9" is up next, and passed off lightly. a flashback to last years brats emerges in "ex-cowboy" (nme brats 98 cd), which is basically one huge crescendo, and what a crescendo. "kappa", ironically, follows, and I must admit I was a little dissapointed in the bands decision to play this song after hearing an internet bootleg and the john peel session. its just not up to their usual heavenly standards. still, "helicon 1" is luscious, a wonderous soundscape of silken waves which caress the captivated audience. dominic swaps instruments with stuart for this, his heavily delayed guitar the signature of the song. and to finish, a new version of "like herod", the only song to be played off of '97's "mogwai young team" lp, the band false start and tease the audience for at least twice the length of the recorded version, before unleashed the most terrifying noise imaginable- 4 guitars, 2 drumkits (stuart has a small setup centre stage) and dizzying strobe lighting causing much feelings of umm... sickness, yet again... mogwai, 23/1/99 : no words could ever be good enough.

    from graham burgess:

    me and a couple of mates (one of whom lived in london and we'd been "preparing" for the show at his house all afternoon) turned up quite late, unforgiveably barged our way to quite near the front and then just stood gobsmacked for the next hour-or-so as the band ripped our heads off. i play guitar in a band but at the end of mogwai's set i was offering my telecaster for sale as i figured there was just no point anymore!