2 rights make 1 wrong
the setlist reads '2 rights...' in place of 'helicon 1', with 'like herod' as the encore.
from mark palmer:
some of barry's equipment was unable to be used during 'small children..' and there was severe monitor feedback early in the show
(especially during the quiet parts of 'satan'). barry's problems persisted, so the band could not play '2 rights..' when they wanted to.
stuart suggested playing 'helicon 1', so they did. i suppose barry's stuff was fixed because the encore was '2 rights..'.
thanks to mike horton, mark palmer, joshua and andrew.
support from bardo pond
show moved from the roxy due to demand for tickets
middle east club website
http://www.savethebees.org/photography/bands/mogwai/
the first half of the set (stage-side). the others are from somerville theater, cambridge ma (27th march 2001)
from mike horton:
saw my first mogwai show on may 25, 2001 at the middle east in cambridge ma.-very nice
indeed! bardo pond was a good opening, never heard them before but i like, they started off with a beautiful song with a violin
drenched in echoes - very cool. mogwai's set started off with the martin luther king "i have a
dream" speech and as the band took the stage a wall of noise began "mogwai fear satan" . after
the song stuart said he was glad to see us all standing up this time (re:somerville theatre show). after the set ended we went up and
saw all their pedals and stompboxes - what an assortment - i own the dunlop tremolo that looks like a wah-wah (speed controlled by
foot pedal) that stuart was using. wanted to buy the split 10" but it sold out by the time i went to buy it. but did get a setlist from the
sound guy.
from stefan:
i tried to buy a copy of the tour ep after the middle east set last night and watched them sell the last ones
while waiting in queue. i asked if there was another box tucked away somewhere but the merchandise guy
said no....
great gig, marred by some monitor interference noise and a particularly inattentive audience
chit-chattering behind me during the quiet bits.
from 'csb@shovelchick.com':
the show opened with an empty stage and martin luther king's "i have a
dream" speech playing over the speakers. after a few minutes the band took
the stage and started into an incredible version of "mogwai fear satan".
early on some technical difficulties popped up. stuart was visibly pissed off.
it had something to do with the monitor and/or keyboards. i think it
affected what they did with the songs.
the version of "small children..." was noticably slower in the beginning.
other than that, standard.
before the tenth song i saw stuart say something to martin and dominic. at the time it looked like they were
talking about what song to play next. that's why i think they changed the order of the last two songs, and then
changed "herod" to "helicon".
in my opinion the somerville show in march was better. the set was more
varied, and the band seemed to be tighter and enjoying themselves more. the
down mood was definitely because of the techincal problems. at the end of
the show stuart apologized. overall though, a good show. lots of older tunes that i am glad i was able to hear live.
from john waskiewicz:
to start off the middle east club really sucks. it has a really low ceiling and reminds me of the clubs i used to go see
punk bands in back in the day. it really makes me appreciate clubs like toads in new haven and first ave
in minneapolis.
bardo pond was very good. it was the first time i had seen them and i was
really surprised at how good they were based on previous reviews. for bardo
pond the sound was decent except anything that the girl was doing could
barely be heard (flute, vocals, violin) but i think they like it this way as
thats what all their stuff sounds like on record too.
mogwai took the stage and had troubles from the start. the sound for them
was horrible. stuart kept looking at the sound engineer and yelling at him
all through mogwai fear satan, and at least 4 or 5 times throughout the show
made throat slashing gestures to the guy as if to say just turn off the
sound on whatever mike was causing the problems. it was always bad during
the quietest points when the flute was playing or vocals. the speakers
would crackle like hell. the band seemed really confused and pissed off. also
stuart shuushed the crowd a couple times as well. later on he apologized for
the sound and said it wasn't their fault. he also mentioned that he was happy
that the crowd was standing up this time.
encore was definitely not jewish hymn as that's what i was hoping it would be
and it wasn't like herod either which was not played and that one is
umistakable. im just not sure what it was though. it wasnt a very long song
but the buzz was going pretty good by that time and i can't remember. who
knows i may be totally wrong as well.
overall though it was a good show except for a few sound glitches. i had
seen them once before in minneapolis and the set was almost the same. i
thought i remembered them looking much older. i was surprised that the whole
band looked like a bunch of college kids.
from andy:
...but talk about an inattentive audience: stuart walked right through the crowds during bardo pond's set and i'm pretty sure i was the only person who talked to him. it was still a fantastic show though.
