thanks to adam wood.

mogwai played the 2nd stage between 20:00 - 21:00, prior to a headline set from air. also on the bill for 27th june were the cure, pj harvey, wilco, franz ferdinand and the hives.

links

southside festival

reviews/comments

from adam wood:

it was the final day to the southside festival, and i'd seen john earlier in the day watching snow patrol who only seemed to stay for 2-3 songs before wandering off. i thought i saw barry during franz ferdinand's set too. the festival had been graced by amazing sunshine and i have the sunburn to prove it, but on the final day it started to rain heavy with a thunder and lightning storm. but as if by magic it had cleared by the time mogwai were about to take the stage, and a beautiful sunset was starting to form.

they were suppose to be on at 20:00, but due to technical difficulties didn't make it to stage till 20:25. i felt sorry for david jack, who was doing his best with no help from the festival crew. the crowd were getting impatient and booing, while the band were waiting in the wings. before they came on, stuart looked as if he was having a massive argument with one of the organisers, and looked as if he was about to hit someone before he quickly joined the band on stage. the delay ended up being a good thing as it meant that when mogwai finished i didn't have to stand through any of the hives set before the cure came on.

when the band finally made it on stage, stuart was wearing the same baseball hat mentioned in the hurricane festival review, with the sleeves to his top gaffer-tapped tight. they started with 'yes! i am a long way from home' with john and dom both playing bass. a great song to start with.

they seemed to have technical difficulties throughout the gig. dom never seemed happy with his monitor set-up, and what seemed like mobile phone interference with barry seeming to ask whose mobile phone was on. it didn't seem to stop the band, with blistering versions of 'satan' and 'ratts'. 'hunted' got the biggest cheer of the set and is the closest i think mogwai have come to a single (my personal opinion) with most of the crowd seeming to know it. the outing of 'ithica' was a real treat with john playing bass and dom on guitar. '2 rights' was as amazing as ever with martin joining barry on the electronics at the end. it was a real highlight of the festival. 'my father my king' was its normal powerful self - stuart ended up with only 2 strings left on his guitar and john and barry joining him make lots of beautiful noise at the end on their pedals. i just hope the crowd on the main stage for the hives got to hear it (i'm sure they did. during the cure's set you could hear 'air' on the second stage).

starting late didn't seem to affect the amount of time mogwai played, as they still played their hour-long allotment (franz ferdinand had been cut short earlier in the day). there was some good banter, with stuart thanking everyone for choosing mogwai over the hives and asking if everyone was having a good time, saying they would soon put paid to that. even barry mumbled something into the mic before one song although i didn't make it out but the band seemed to laugh.

i thought the band was on form (weren't as good as the last time i saw them, but that was all tomorrow's parties and they were on fire there). the crowd may not have thought the same. during 'my father my king', someone threw a bottle towards john during the ending when he was making some noise on his pedals, narrowly missing his head, and it wasn't the first time. earlier in the set 2 bottles were thrown, one at stuart narrowly missing him, but him, barry and david in the wings seemed to have a good laugh at it. apart from these idiots the crowd was well responsive and were quiet throughout and cheered at the right times.

all in all, the band was as amazing as ever and was as much as you could expect from an hour-long festival appearance. they were a real highlight of the festival along with the obvious pixies and cure sets. the real surprise was mclusky, a truly great band that will hopefully get the recognition they deserve.

anyone else was there feel free to add more, i'm interested to hear what others thought of the set and the festival.

from jyves:

pretty good show.... last time in brussels, i'd been kinda disappointed, they were way too quiet to my taste.

here, this was the first time i saw them on an open-air stage, so i was really eager to see how different they were gonna be. unfortunately, the setlist was hung plain visible to the left of barry's stool, and with the long delay (i really feared the show would be cancelled), it was near impossible not to see it, which goddamn spoiled any surprise. hearing 'long way' live was the big (spoilt) surprise here for me, i've seen them 7 or 8 times and really didn't expect to hear that one.

i got totally nuts with 'fear satan', as i always do. the band were enjoying themselves, rocking those southern germans into aural death. stuart was looking kinda annoyed, tho. but he thanked us "crazy suckers for choosing mogwai over the hives", but hey, choosing between music and posturing is damn easy. loved his evil grin.

during '2 rights', i had an argument with my friend about that song being mogwai's closest thing to a pop song. i think it's an upbeat, happy piece and he said i'm out of my mind and it's the saddest thing he's heard. always makes me shiny happy, ditto this time.

'my father my king' was fantastic and beautiful and as loud as needed, i love it, but really, it's getting old...did we really need that 20 minute dinosaur on a festival, when we could have 3 or 4 extra songs instead? i'd have loved to hear stuff from the eps or from cody...

awwww, i'm talking shit already. brilliant set, really, i loved them, there's still no match for the power of their music played live. can't think of a drug that drives me higher than a long, loud fear satan.

pj was amazing, too. that woman knows no limits and that's a great thing. franz ferdinand, those blokes sure know how to get a crowd going. i wish i'd been to the air concert, though, cause the cure weren't in top form that night (as opposed to cologne & werchter where they rocked).

photos

click on the image for larger version.

photo by Jyves.