Photo by Fanny Lambotte
MOGWAI is like a fine whiskey: this is a band that gets better with age. Nothing But Hope and Passion was lucky enough to get writers at the show in Brussels (February 1st, Ancienne Belgique) and Berlin (February 6, Tempodrom). Those writers got together to compare notes and answer questions like ‘How do rockers stay relevant after almost twenty years?’ and ‘How do you dance to mostly instrument loud/soft/loud rock?’ and ‘How can you be the legend of post-rock, when not that many people even know what post-rock is?’
Brussels – Ancienne Belgique – Feb 2
Saturday February 1st, on the way to L’Ancienne Belgique with my camera and various lenses, excited about seeing MOGWAI again. The opening band that night was FOREST SWORDS, a kind of minimal-drone band from Liverpool. Perfect music when you want to lie down on the couch with your headphones on and dream of everything and nothing.
Photo by Fanny Lambotte
8.40pm, finally, MOGWAI arrives on stage, I’m ready to take pictures during the first few songs. Cold and static lights and hexagons on the top of the stage provide the only scenery. Then, the first notes of Heard About You Last Night, good but not great. The show goes on and never really takes off, even on songs like I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead and Mexican Grand Prix sound flat and academic. Compared to their show in 2011 which sounded like being in a washing machine on spin drying mode, this time they sounded bored.
L’Ancienne Belgique has one of the best sound systems in Europe, yet that couldn’t really be heard that during the show. MOGWAI played two nights in Brussels, when I heard what the audience thought about the second night and how great they were on stage, I wondered why I missed out on it. I discovered that MOGWAI is this type of band which changes the setlist every night. Brussels was the first show on their European tour. Maybe they weren’t inspired with the setlist, or maybe I wasn’t inspired with this setlist but I missed the band I saw in 2011. I missed this feeling that you could go to your death happily after the show because what you just lived was such a special moment. I wish I could say it was one of the best shows ever, but I left disappointed. Every song was so clean and calm. While not a bad show, as said above, MOGWAI were good, but not great. By Fanny Lambotte.
Berlin – Tempodrom – Feb 6
photo by Used Universe
Berlin this Thursday in February is a bit of an anomaly, since winter seems to have reared it’s ugly head and then left and then sort of returned. It’s a brisk night outside the Tempodrom, and the solidly middle aged crown is lining up outside one of the newer (built in 2001) and fancier concert venues Berlin can boast. The fanciness also lead to higher than average ticket prices which kept some die-hard MOGWAI fans from going.
MOGWAI also has a special bond with Berlin, since guitarist Barry co-owns a bar in Neukolln (the rest of the band still lives in Glasgow). So what does the old-guard of ambient, barely describable post-rock have to offer? Plenty, from the two hour set.
As in Brussels, borderline minimalist noise/ drone-except-for-the-melodies band FOREST SWORDS opened.
Photo by Fanny Lambotte
MOGWAI takes the stage where artwork from their most recent Rave Tapes record is projected, and amid hexagons and being grateful for the fact that sitting was option, yours truly has her mind wander during the slow droney intro. This is when I realize MOGWAI is not for everyone. The thing is, they do what they do and they do it WELL. Almost two decades together means as musicians the band is as a cohesive as can be, crucial for a sound that uses so much empty space. Seeing the capacity crowd makes one wonder: how did a essentially instrumental band become so famous? MOGWAI is not so much a band you listen to as one you absorb and feel. Their spacey, electronic sound is a narrative in itself: the guitars and effects are telling a story, with the help of some (very rare) vocals. With obtuse song and album titles that relate in no way to the sound, MOGWAI is deliberately open ended. In the age of didactic, tell-all-with-comprehensive-notes bands, they keep an element of mystery and open-endedness that allows the listener to attach their own meaning.
The set list consisted of plenty off Rave Tapes, including the slow creeper Remurdered and Heard About You Last Night. A nice surprise off their critically acclaimed album Happy Songs for Happy People was Hunted by a Freak.
While MOGWAI solid and cohesive onstage, their intimate sound was a bit lost in the vastness of the Tempodrom. Able to fit 3,800 people, the circus tent looking space can also be impersonal and distant, not ideal when you are trying to access a band as challenging and subtle as MOGWAI. In summary, this writer is glad she went, but still glad she had a place to sit down and soak up the atmosphere. Try to catch them at an intimate venue if you can. And bring a seat. By Kika Jonsson.
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