Mogwai
24 April 2001 -- The Metro, Chicago

setlist
sinewave
stanley kubrick (with cello)
you dont know jesus
helicon 2 (barry on flute)
xmas steps
cody (with cello)
small children in the background
secret pint (with cello)
helicon 1
2 rights make one wrong (with cello)

encore:
jewish hymn

It's now 1 PM the "day" after and I can still say that Mogwai at the Metro was one of the finest shows I've ever seen.

We arrived in Chicago around 3:30, and we hit the train to the art museum for a bit. Just having been there six days earlier with school, I was not as excited as normal. After they kicked us out at 4, we ate and drank at two restaurants for several hours, and toured some shoddy punk rock record stores until 8:30, when we joined the line outside of the Metro, where the Mogwai luxury tourbus rested just outside.

Once we got into the actual venue (out of the ten-degree air), the anticipation started to hit. The first opener – Aurore Rien -- came on at 10:00, and played a mostly subdued, but nice set of Mogwai and Godspeed flavored tunes. The drummer was a freak of nature. A long setup ensued for Parlor, the second band, which made me more restless. Making me even more restless, this band was horrible. Parlor is an incredibly unskilled guitarist noodling away to cheesey sequences choked out by his buzzing Powerbook, accompanied by bland drumming and bass. I counted the minutes until they were finished.

As the preparation for Mogwai began, my friend noticed the massive carton of various refreshments which was brought out. The roadies placed each member's favorite cocktails next to their equipment setup – Heinekens for Dominic, wine for John, etc. This was quite amusing.

Finally, the 'gwai took the stage at around 11:15, and entered into the electronic coughing of the new "Sine Wave," with Barry manning some electronic gadgets in the rear. I entered this show blind to all Rock Action tracks except "dial: revenge," and I was quite impressed with all of them – especially "You Don't Know Jesus," which swelled up to a frenzy like Mogwai at their finest, and "Two Rights Make One Wrong," featuring Martin manning an electronic drum gadget at the end of the song.

It was exciting to hear these new tracks played live, but I was so grateful they played Christmas Steps, probably my favorite Mogwai song. The buildup in this was unbelievable, and the noise was equally so before an extended Stuart solo outro. I'm a nervous concert goer: will they play this song? Will our show be as good as the last one? After Xmas Steps, I knew nothing could possibly go wrong.

Mogwai was joined by a cellist on several tunes, the first of which was Stanley Kubrick. She was great, adding just enough to enhance the songs without becoming a novelty. "Cody" also featured the cellist with Stuart singing, which was excellent. The only drawback to the cellist was whichever equipment she was plugged into was buzzing quite nastily throughout – which was only a part of what seemed to be rather frequent sound troubles. The roadies were tending to guitars just to the right of the stage (clearly visible) the whole show, and they were called over by the band several times to fix this or that. With the constant roadie fiddling, Dominic and John periodically leaving the stage to modify guitars, and Dominic and Barry having smokes in the quiet bits all gave an informal air to the show, which was strangely comforting.

Words cannot describe my happiness when I read they were using "My Father My King/Jewish Hymn" as the encore for all of these recent shows – I have a live recording of this song from a few years ago and it amazes me even in its horrible sound quality version. But oh, how I was standing, mouth open allowing my teeth to vibrate in my gums along with the Talmud-flavored onslaught coming from the stage. They riffed on the normal theme for several minutes, then everything stopped as Stuart introduced the next variation, which the band proceeded to build upon until Stuart found himself on his knees coaxing any last bit of tremendous feedback from his Scot-emblazoned Telecaster. In the process, both John and Stuart broke strings, and Stuart ripped the rest out to produce a wall of feedback, which he proceeded to alter by lounging next to his effects pedals for a while. Then, with the stage lights shining directly in our face, the band left (Dominic and Martin had left a bit earlier, after the services were no longer required).

My first Mogwai show terrifically lived up to all expectations: the sound was huge, the tunes were all in form, and I got to hear Stuart call someone a cunt.




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