Fortunately, I’d read about Mogwai’s live show before I came tonight, so I made sure to pack a pair of earplugs. I didn’t expect to need them, and first impressions on entering the Academy didn’t give me any reason to suspect I might – some post-rock/metal playing on the house PA, but nothing too earbleeding.
And then the support act started. Holy. Shit. You know those sonic weapons they talk about on the news? Well, it turns out they double up as Mogwai’s PA.
This all wouldn’t be so bad if the support act – Kid606 – was actually worth listening to. But he’s, uh, not. Just because you can push white noise and sub-60hz white noise through some speakers at building-destroying levels over an 808 drum beat running at 250bpm, that doesn’t mean it’s actually a good idea to do so. Maybe I’m just getting old. Anyway, he’s finished now. So that’s good.
I think they just played some Sunn 0))). Either that or one of the techs forgot to turn a guitar back down after tuning it and left it feeding back for 5 minutes, but that wouldn’t explain the ‘vocals’, such as they are.
“Say a little prayer”? What?
Ah, here come the band. Hurrah!
They are magnificent.