It’s almost 20 years since Scottish post-rock heavyweights Mogwai first began making music together.
And the connection that comes through repetition and proximity is evident when you see them live - it’s where the contrast between nuance and power, illuminated by a huge lighting rig and three hexagons high above the stage, makes sense.
For an hour and half the Glaswegians were flawless. A hurricane of guitars wired through an imposing bank of Marshall stacks and Orange cabinets delivered low-frequencies with the power to trigger earthquake warning systems.
On their recent eighth studio album, Rave Tapes, the old post rock loud/quiet trick has been diluted. Yet the entire show was a display in how to use dynamics.
Subtle, unsettling tracks from Les Revenants soundtrack mixed with moody introspection such as Take Me Somewhere Nice and the odd sparse vocal - muddied in effects or channelled through a vocoder - before thundering set closer Like Herod, the early classic from Mogwai’s Young Team, turned from baby steps to bulldoze in seconds.
A few in the audience took the opportunity to bark out song requests in the lull between the storms. But call out all you like the suggestions will fall on deaf ears. Mogwai is a group who will not be distracted.
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