With the new record fresh in my mind, I arrive just in time to catch what appears to be the last Twilight Sad song; unfortunate, but there’s only one thing in my mind.
Guitar pedals. Watching the roadies set about building the apparatus through which our favourite Glaswegian post-rockers may go about their business it’s no surprise that the setup is immense. Of course there are pedals galore, the kind that I can only dream of owning.
Mogwai enter stage left and immediately plug into White Noise. What is noticeable about the latest record and compounded by how it sounds live is it's pace and directness. Live that feeling permeates, and a sense of energy throbs through this set; we are treated to lots of new material, Death Rays, How To Be A Werewolf and Letters To The Metro set the tone, but the initial pivotal moment comes when they unexpectedly (and to my delight) play Cody, from ‘Come On Die Young’. Complete silence almost shatters the room, the sense of shell-shocked emotion a track like this produces in you is utterly indefinable. May have had a few tears in my eyes at this point, I’m not ashamed to admit.
Even the most energetic of sets from Mogwai, from my past experiences, still finds little movement from the crowd besides the obvious wave of appreciation after every song. Mostly through sheer awe people remain rooted to the spot during, and only when we are treated to old favourite Christmas Steps do the audience show signs of a pulse. Up there with the best Mogwai songs, the sheer volume is enough to rearrange your vital organs, and the closing violin solo performed by Luke Southerland takes it into transcendental mode. What a job those sound technicians do, under strict authority from the guys of course, in the shape of faint nods in the vein of “turn it up, Jimmy!”
Live favourite Friend of The Night is greeted with glee before the sludge thudding of Rano Pano and creeping crescendo of You’re Lionel Richie readjusts the set. We are lucky to be here, and even luckier to hear the faint melodic twee of 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong (my personal fave) build into euphoric magic before melting into IDM breakdown; fabulous. From here on the moments are pure bliss. The band leave after Bat Cat to take part in that age old game of rock theatre, the encore. We’ll forgive their indulgence as they close with Auto Rock and Hunted By A Freak before shutting up shop with a palpably powerful rendition of Mexican Grand Prix, leaving the stage in a torrent of noise, as is customary. Definitely more than two rights at this night. Mesmerizing as ever.