thanks andy

colston hall

reviews/comments

from andy:

it was an excellent show, apart from some technical problems with barry's pedals and some drunken idiots shouting at random points. the sound was superb and at least part of the show was being filmed by invada.

from http://www.last.fm/user/margotkidder/journal:

as the crowd thickens steadily in the main hall, the anticipation to see mogwai grows ever more and i begin to feel that warm fuzzy feeling you get when staring over the edge of some very tall building. to say that mogwai are one of my favourite bands would an understatement, but really, for anyone to deny them of the level of respect and reverie they deserve is nothing short of offensive. opening with a surprisingly stark but no less haunting "may nothing but happiness come through your door", mogwai proceed to lull, batter and deafen the gathered faithful, making this, one of the few uk shows on their calender in 2009, one to really savour. highlights include the gorgeous "thank you space expert", a fantastic double whammy of "helicon 1" follwed by a beautifully plodding "2 rights..." and new heights of loud in the form of "ithica 27o9" which forces me to stumble backwards from the overpowering noise and clamour. looking genuinely happy to still be playing these songs, mogwai bid us a fond farewell and rightfully secure themselves as one of experimental music's biggest assets.

from kenny mcdonald:

anyone who visits my flat will immediately spot my fully-signed clash poster on the wall opposite my bathroom. it was kindly donated by a relative and was signed on one of two dates when strummer, jones, simenon and headon played in june 1980. so, you know it makes sense to visit the relatives and take in the colston hall and the invada invasion event.

it looks like the budokan up the road has suddenly gone bust, so it is the katmandhu opposite the colston hall that gets the opportunity to feed us. verdict: very good and i would consider visiting again.

doing a bit of research, the plan is to stick to the main hall and catch bits and bobs of the other acts. mogwai are the only people on the bill whom i've seen before.

joe volk and a 30-something piece orchestra are very good. it's the most musicians i've seen in one place and easily tops the 11 or so with the delgados at the glasgow fruitmarket. the sound is fantastic and everyone seems to be in tune and on time. i think the conductor (conductress?) is called liz. whatever she is called, she did a good job.

whilst i hadn't heard of joe volk (though know who he is now), i had heard of crippled black phoenix. i hadn't expected a pink floyd tribute act; not that this is a bad thing if executed well. before justin sings, i would have bet money that one effort was "one of these days" from meddle. given that elastica paid both wire and the stranglers, pink floyd deserve some cash. (they don't need the money, though).

again the sound is fantastic and my only slight criticism is that the last track could have been five minutes shorter. though cbp are impressive enough that i would go out of my way to see them again. a compliment indeed as mogwai support acts normally irritate me.

in the hour that the stage is being prepared, we check out zu in the foyer. good effort, lads and if local madman geoff is reading this- good effort big man.

we take our seats (yes, seats) for mogwai shortly after ten. 'happiness' starts us off and whilst it's not exactly rare, a bit of a surprise opener. it is, however, probably a good choice to fine-tune the sound.

a couple from hawk follow; jim morrison again very powerful, then some older material follows. the sound quality has been maintained and 'i know you are' takes on a somewhat spooky feel. nice. it's nice, too, to hear autorock again; only the third time i've seen this live and john spends the whole song battering some cymbals. and whilst i've always been a massive admirer of martin, he plays everything perfectly tonight; most notably on cody which is by far the best live performance of this song that i've witnessed. it is fast becoming a favourite; just in time for the 10th anniversary release!

highlights tonight for me are the aforementioned five, plus 2 rights which is simply stunning. words fail me as to how good this track sounded here.

will stick my neck out and say that this is my second favourite mogwai gig; only strasbourg on the hsfhp tour better. the sound quality, the set and the band's performance are the reasons behind this. given that bristol has its own 'christmas steps' just round the corner from the hall, it would have been nice had it appeared in the setlist. however, it's absence and even that of friend of the night didn't detract- mogwai simply have too many great tunes to play them all in a night.

simply first-class entertainment and i hope invada invasion becomes an annual event.

from http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4138012-invada-invasion--the-dis-review:

for a band we’ve seen countless times, it’s hard to explain quite why we’re so excited about mogwai, but as almost anyone who’s seen them will tell you, theirs is an emotional and addictive performance. whilst tonight’s set does dip a little in the middle, we can forgive them, especially when they turn ‘take me somewhere nice’ (surely '2 rights'? - rob) into a bone-rattling feedback trip, before launching into a frankly awe-inspiring ‘batcat’, dedicated to stuart’s wife, who’s travelled down with them on her birthday. how’s that for a present?

photos

photos by andy parsons:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6010/sets/72157622463557024/

http://strangeglue.com/news/invada-invasion-live-mogwai-vs-fuzz-against-junk/10006872