encore:

thanks to mathieu

support from bardo pond

"listening to the recording of this show, i noticed stuart(?) plays the opening bars of "rain" by the cult as the intro to mfmk."
thanks matt

misc. info

visit the club soda website

some interesting soundcheck info from shubhayan roy:

i heard the boys soundchecking a few hours prior to the show as me and my friends happened to be in the parking lot behind the venue...we weren't sure if it was them at first though because they were playing something that none of us had ever heard before... i wasn't even paying especially close attention at first because i was convinced that it wasn't them, but immediately after, they broke into the heavy part of 'xmas steps' and we went to the front windows and saw them on stage. so it was them. that's settled. but the song was actually quite funky! it was upbeat, with a fast rhythm and it wasn't loud in their traditional sense, but sounded to me like a regular rock band (in style only, obviously it sounded impeccable) and probably one of the happiest tunes i've heard them play...i was just wondering if you know what that was...

reviews/comments

read the online review at chartattack

slowriot commented:

an additional detail about the montreal show...'secret pint' went into 'punk rock sample' which then went into '2 rights', all without breaks...one of the most amazing things i've ever heard...

and from farhara rahman:

i was at the mogwai show last night in montreal...and i think they played a new song called 'big e'. it was slow, nice, it's hard to explain, but it reminded of the song 'hintergrund' off the pluramon cd, but it was still very different. 'sine wave' led into 'mogwai fear satan'. '2 rights make 1 wrong' was incredible, no violins, just piano. it was so good, they weren't selling the split ep though, and only 2 tshirts, big muff, and rock action records. the last 5 to 10 minutes of 'jewish hymn', stuart and barry both put their guitars down, and started messing with their pedals, i have never heard anything like it. the guy standing next to us was videotaping the show, maybe 5 feet from the stage, but he left around 'xmas steps' (possibly to another spot to film?)

from mathieu belanger:

about the tour ep, as soon as i got in, i went to the merchandise table and asked for one, but the guy told me "they sold out last night" (i.e. the night before in boston). maybe they'll have some later...

when they played "big e", the merchandise guy sat on the side of the stage with a digital video camera. he taped this song and the next one if i remember correctly. a guy then videotaped the next few songs from the audience (in the middle, two or three meters from the stage).

i was very close to the stage and could see the setlist. it was: sine wave / satan / big e / ithica / hel 2 / jesus / xmas steps / helicon 1 / secret pint / 2 rights - this is actually the way the titles were written. so, they played these songs and the encore was "jewish hymn", quite predictable... "big e" is correct. nothing incredible, but not bad either. some like "cody" with a crescendo at the end. it doesn't explode into a "full-distortion maniac" part. i guess a crescendo like in "ithica" (well, the short one before the maniac part) but much longer.

the show itself was, i guess, good. but, it just didn't do much for me. i don't know why exactly, but i was not moved at all. i was just standing there right in front of the stage, being almost bored. i think they are a pretty bad band when it comes to "stage presence". i don't mean that they are a bad live band, but they are quite boring to watch. it's not because they are not moving or talking to the crowd... i think it looks like they are playing on "automatic pilot". everything was so predictable. to give an example, the encore was a total fake. they left the stage after "2 rights", but the roadies were still on stage, tuning the guitars, testing the pedals etc, while we were supposed to clap to get the favor of an encore that they most likely would have played anyway...

so they played "jewish hymn". i must say that while this song is a little boring to listen at home, i find more interesting to experience it live. the repetition of the same four-five notes during 20 minutes is kind of bad, but it's different live. they really should stop the song after 15 minutes or so though. it must have ran for 22-23 minutes yesterday. the last minutes were just useless feedback. and it was not even creative. i don't mind listening to some feedback or noise music, but it has to be creative. it was not. not much happened during the feedback ending. they just slowed down the pace of the song, creating some sort of continuous background noise with the bass (i guess it was meant to be a drone, but it was not)... nothing incredible.

the highlights were "xmas steps", "helicon 1" and "2 rights" for me. they actually are the only songs i kind of enjoyed. well, as i said, a 15 minute version of "jewish hymn" would have been nice, but they ruined it... nah, this is not correct. i should not say that they ruined it as it's not the case and it's not my opinion either. it would be more accurate to say that "the song would be better if it was 15 minutes instead of 25". the other songs were nice, but nothing incredible.

not much to say about bardo pond. they were kind of loud too. the first song was correct, but not original at all. kind of a dirty three meets "the typical post rock song with a slow beat". i'm probably saying this because the girl was playing violin as a soloist though... i just didn't enjoyed the rest of their set. they looked quite happy of the crowd's reaction.

the sound was ridiculously loud. during "jewish hymn", the sound with earplugs was almost as loud as the sound at a normal concert without earplugs... is there a reason that explains why they play so loud? it's totally ridiculous! i can understand that a louder sound will make their music more powerful, but they are playing so loud, one gets the impression that the power of their music is essentially coming from the loud sound... ok, this last sentence is a little demagogic...

from pascal rozon:

it was my first show, but i had heard a lot about them being really loud live. and they were. but the sound was so clear, though, i was quite surprised they manage to pull this trick, especially with all that droning. helicon 1 was beautiful, they seemed to slow down the tempo a little, and during the loud part, the entire band was just slowly walking on stage (except for stuart) no fuzz... very weird.

it was beautiful, the sound was well balanced (except for the vocals, too low, but it doesn't matter), and the venue was perfect for them, but the owner was a pain in the ass, checking everything. i guess if he never tested his sound system, he did that night (new venue, i don't think it's one year old yet).

i thought it was as dense and overwhelming as gybe!, but at the same time, in a different way. gybe! is orchestral, mogwai is all about guitars. sounded like the 2001 version of phil spector's wall of sound (he used that technique to record a lot of bands in the 60's if i remember correctly), this time, guitar and droning only. great experience.

i thought the *encore* was a bit too much. a sound engineer was mesuring the noise level, i was behind the soundboard, and manage to read something around 118 db during the encore.

the climax was insane too. you knew mogwai's songs. you knew what it was coming, but you never knew when it would blow up.

from matt corbiere:

this show was my first time seeing the lads from glasgow and i was was not for one second dissapointed. to me (and those with me) it was a truly inspirational experience. never have i heard anything so beautiful.

as a relatively new mogwai fan i was a little unfamiliar with a few of the older tracks, notably ithica, hel 1-2, but they were absolutly brilliant (esp. hel 1). the whole set was a journey into lush sonic landscapes, coloured with crisp clean melody's and beautiful noise.

i was right up front and was just fixated by the light show. you just had to close your eyes and you'd find yourself in a new world.

in regards to stage presence, i didn't feel like it was lacking at all. sure they don't go over to each other and pose, but with them it's all about the music. you don't have to move around and interact constantly to have presence. stuart ventured out front gazing over the crowed many times as did cummings. during the (in my opinion) incredible outro of jewish traditional stuart and barry were playing to eachother with their effects laughing and obviously enjoying themselves.

other highlights of the show we're 2 rights (just fucking unbelievable, my fave of the night), secret pint (which i didn't think lacked in vocal volume, listen to the disk it's just as low), bulloch's amazing drumming (one handed drinking a pint at times), and stuart's ridiculously loud guitar, just to name a few.

all in all i don't know how on earth anyone could not enjoy this outing, and i feel sorry for those who thought it was "boring" or "predictable" because they obviously didn't let themselves get into the right head-space. my advice to them would be to just chill (perhaps inhale something) and enjoy the music because that's essentially what mogwai is all about.

so thanks to the boys for this unforgetable evening.