“Thank you Manchester, for rejecting fascism last night.”
Stuart Brathwaite – guitarist and vocalist for Mogwai – stands in front of a Palestine flag and celebrates the outbreak of common sense that brought Hannah Spencer of the Green Party the Gorton and Denton seat in this week’s by-election, beating Reform. He is met by a wall of applause. “This is Manchester… we do things differently here,” said Spencer in her victory speech, channelling Tony Wilson.
They do things pretty differently in Glasgow too, it seems, judging from tonight’s gig. With less focus on traditional song structure, and vocals… Mogwai direct their efforts more towards weaving a dense fabric of sound into thick sonic atmospheres, a comfortable coat to keep out the late winter chills. It’s no surprise Mogwai’s music has formed the soundtrack to many cinematic pieces – everything from Miami Vice to Zidane.
They come out to ‘God Gets You Back’ and the wall of sound is woven. The graceful art deco curves of the Apollo’s ceiling seem to form ripples spreading out across the arena, a sonic shimmer of sound breaking over us, underwater. And they are loud. Gut-punchingly loud. My +1 for the night is my 15-year-old son and I worry for what I am doing to his tender ears.
The band are a moveable feast – Martin Bulloch on drums, Dominic Aitchison on bass, Braithwaite on guitar and vocals and two members playing sweeper – switching around between both the keyboards and guitar – Barry Burns and tour member Alex Mackay. At times the only thing lit on the stage are the banks of effects pedals by each guitar position. And when all three guitarists, plus bass, are kicking out the jams the effect is by parts mesmerising and terrifying. It’s a drone – a delightful drone – that seems at times to move beyond harmony… to noise… only to pull up, and turn back.
The tracks roll out – the likes of ‘Hunted by a Freak’ and ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ – and if there’s one negative then it is the paucity of tracks from 2021’s gorgeous album As The Love Continues. This is the album that got me into Mogwai, partly because my Manchester pal Antony Crook was directing a film about the making of the album (now available as If The Stars Had A Sound) but also this was an album that went to number one, and was also Piccadilly Records Album of the Year. As far as I can make out, only ‘Ritchie Sacramento’ is played from that album, with its glorious vocal refrain “Disappear in the sun / All gone, all gone”. It’s also the only real vocal tonight – other vocal lines are handled through a vocoder, so that there are hints of Daft Punk and Air, at times… New Order at others.
At several points the band deliver a genuine sonic jump scares – the lights blast white, the band punch hard – it’s a sudden solid kick in the nuts – the Mogwai turned Gremlin. All members of the band seem happiest when lost in a shared slam of noise and energy – such as the ferocious ‘Like Herod’ that closes the main set, or the extended improv jam on ‘My Father, My King’ that forms the encore; an angry, abrasive throb. Seemingly lost, they turn noise into these patterns of woven sound. When they come out the other side it’s as though released… emerging from the sonic swamp of their own construction to breathe once again.
At times you feel on more solid ground, connected – perhaps – to prog rock contingencies but then we’re flung into something of a postmodern highland jig, or an acid bagpipes drone. And sometimes all of that in the same song. It’s… a lot. A lot for your ears and mind to process. At one point I even thought a guitar solo had broken out but it was a few notes only, repeated refrains. Both Braithwaite and Aitchison kneel down to work the effects pedals to their outer limits, mangling atonal, discordant sounds. They love the noise, the impact of the sounds they make, the deep grooves they construct and it is indeed aurally hypnotising… mesmerising. It’s like having your ears rubbed with sandpaper… but then you realise your ears were itching… so that’s OK.
It’s the last night of the tour and after their all-out aural assault they leave the stage and leave us with the noise, ringing in our ears, like a love note left under a pillow… an experience you won’t forget in a hurry. There is a lot of noise in the world at the moment and a lot of it nasty, brutish, ugly. But sometimes… like in Gorton and Denton… and in Ardwick… the noise can be beautiful.
Simon is a writer, broadcaster and countercultural investigator. Over the last 15 years he has written for everyone from The Guardian to Loaded magazine, presented television for Rapture TV and hosted radio programs for the likes of Galaxy. He has also found time to earn a Masters Degree in Novel Writing and write three books (a collection of journalism, a guidebook to Ibiza and one on financial planning for young people – the most varied publishing career it’s possible to have) and establish and run a PR company, Pad Communications, looking after a range of leisure and lifestyle clients.He currently splits his time between researching his PhD at Leeds University, looking into various countercultural movements; consulting freelance for PR clients; writing for the likes of Marie Claire in Australia, The Big Issue and the Manchester Evening News, where he reviews concerts, theatre and is their Pub & Bar Editor. He is also broadcaster, appearing regularly on Tony Livesey’s late night 5Live show for the BBC, and also for BBC Radio Manchester Gourmet Night food and drink show.Simon’s main focus has been music and travel. His career has included editing Ministry of Sound’s magazine in Ibiza for two summers and also writing two long-running columns for DJmagazine – ”Around The World in 80 Clubs” (which took him everywhere from Beijing to Brazil, Moscow to Marrakech) and “Dispatches From The Wrong Side”. A collection of the latter was published in the UK and US as the book Discombobulated, including tales as varied as gatecrashing Kylie Minogue’s birthday party, getting deported from Russia, having a gun held to his head by celebrity gangster Dave Courtney and going raving in Ibiza with Judith Chalmers. He has recently written for the likes of Red magazine, Hotline, Clash, Tilllate, Shortlist and the Manchester Evening News. Pad Communications has recently consulted for clients as varied as Manchester nightclubs and New Zealand toy companies.On a personal note, Simon is a Londoner who left the capital at the age of 18 and never looked back. He sees himself as a citizen of the global dancefloor having lived in Sydney, Los Angeles, Ibiza and Amsterdam. However his life is now rather more sedentary. After all his adventures he bumped into and subsequently married his highschool sweetheart from their North London Grammar. They now live in Stockport with their four children and four chickens, trying to live the good life. Simon recently turned 40 and is steadfastly refusing to have a midlife crisis – as in, growing a ponytail and buying a shiny red sports car.OK, maybe he’ll buy the sports car…
