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I leave Alcatraz with my ears ringing and buzzing. Satisfied, fulfilled by the surprising and immensely powerful hour and a half of live music that just ended. Something that, as a post-rock concert novice, I wasn't expecting. And as I walk through the streets of Milan with my new friend Daniel (ZeroKanada here on Deb) and into the semi-deserted subway, I reflect on the concert I just witnessed and I feel good, I am happy.
Everything started around nine in the evening, when, after a brief wait at the entrance of Alcatraz, among shouting scalpers and poster and t-shirt vendors, I stepped into the venue. There was already quite a crowd, and I could sense the excitement and desire to listen to Mogwai live. And then there they were, the five Scotsmen, who took the stage greeting us. A round of applause. The lights dimmed, and the emotion began. It started with the beautiful "Heard About You Last Night", a delicate track that opens "Rave Tapes" which I reviewed here a few months ago. I already have chills down my spine and I feel cradled by the sweet notes that hit my chest directly and embrace me warmly. When the lights turn blue and azure and purple, Mogwai gifts us with two tracks from their past: "Friend Of The Night", melancholic and poignant, and "Take Me Somewhere Nice", perhaps one of the band's most well-known songs. These are moments of total emotion, and the five of them up there on stage prove to be professionals. No sloppiness, no empty moments. Just a continuous flow of extraordinary and hypnotic music.
I wasn't expecting such energy, such destructive force. Yet Mogwai managed to surprise me by smashing a more powerful "Rano Pano" than ever in the face of everyone below them, with three guitars that shake and make the entire venue tremble. It seems that the band wants to put all their energy into this, in this second and final Italian date of their tour. They transform "Deesh" and "Remurdered", two tracks from the new album, into something I never thought possible. They make them more electric, less calm compared to the studio version. Less electronic, more guitars. Less delicacy, more roughness. I move to the beat, enraptured, emotional, as happy as a child on Christmas morning. Everyone around me seems mesmerized by those gigantic sounds, by the intensity that Mogwai has saved for this performance in Milan.
Among new tracks and less recent ones, they insert a true tectonic force: "Batcat". A song from the Mogwai album I love the least, "The Hawk Is Howling" which never fully convinced me. But now it seems that Mogwai is playing a hardcore track, a devastating wall of interwoven sounds penetrating deep into the flesh. The crowd goes wild immersed in the raw reddish lights, someone in front is moshing. There's excitement, there's satisfaction. The concert is something wonderful, something I never imagined.
They leave, and I think, disappointed, that it's all already over. People murmur, they want Mogwai back on stage. They wish this concert would not end so quickly. Five minutes later, and there they are again. They return, greet us again, and a wall of voices screams and applauds. Thank you very much, says Stuart Braithwaite in a macaronic Italian. No, I think, thank you. Three songs close the concert. "The Lord Is Out Of Control" arrives softly, with slow and gentle steps. A performance that differs little from the recording, thankfully. Airy atmosphere and gently touched keyboard bring the entire venue back into that sort of hypnotic trance it had slipped into during the first part of the concert. But it's not over here. There are "Ex-Cowboy" and the very long "Mogwai Fear Satan" to conclude almost perfectly this live performance of the Scottish band. And I revel, embraced by their music, letting myself be carried away by the unique beauty and immense skill of Mogwai.
Later, as I walk through the streets of Milan and then in the subway, my brain is still saturated with the music I just listened to. A concert, that of Mogwai, that I couldn't do without. A concert that confirms how talented the band is and how they still move us after almost twenty years of career. And if we're still here talking about them, and if their concerts are still sold out, there must be a reason.
Setlist:
- "Heard About You Last Night"
- "Friend Of The Night"
- "Take Me Somewhere Nice"
- "Rano Pano"
- "Deesh"
- "Ex-Cowboy"
- "Mexican Grand Prix"
- "White Noise"
- "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead"
- "How To Be A Werewolf"
- "Remurdered"
- "Batcat"
- "The Lord Is Out Of Control"
- "Auto Rock"
- "Mogwai Fear Satan"
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