encore:

thanks to jon gage and kevin.

support from mighty flashlight

miscellaneous info.

visit the venue website

justconcerts.com - listen to the show

reviews/comments

from kevin:

brilliant show last night. please ask your visitors to buy a mogwai album so they can afford fresh paper for their setlists and spare their old dayplanners.

from jon gage:

just got back from the toronto gig. one year to the day since they were last here, and the fifth time they've played here in total.

all in all a very solid set, if not completely mindblowing. 'helicon 1' had an interestingly oppressive drone floating over the introduction which was a nice change, and 'like herod' was trimmed to a paletable 6 minutes. i normally can't stand the latter, and was very impressed this go around if that's any indication. i'd like to see them switch up the set a little bit, as it wasn't all that different from their last 4 shows in toronto. the new songs were a real treat though! 'star wars' has a very loud, angry driving riff. much better than the 'd to e' era material. i hope these tracks make it into wide circulation, especially the first one. it started out with a swift fingerpicking melody, followed by a rousing guitar chorus by both john & stuart. nicely done.

martin & john were selling "homemade" silkscreen t-shirts at the merch table. it looked like they'd gotten hold of the following stencils: mogwai, c***, beer, jesus, drink and f***. after that they'd just randomly grouped them together and airbrushed them on t-shirts. wasn't willing to pay $15 for it, but they did have plenty of copies of the bardo pond split 10" for those still looking for it.

from paul:

the show was stunning. the best of the many times i've seen them.

stolen from "now" magazine, submitted by paul:

"hot scots" by matt galloway

rating: nnnn (4/5)

the decision to put a punish-ingly loud band like mogwai into the relatively intimate confines of lee's palace should not be taken lightly.as the scottish quintet plowed through 90 minutes of delicately sculpted, incredibly forceful instrumental rock, fans began to drop like flies, falling to the ground in heaps or staggering, pale and shaken-looking, toward the back of the club. whether the fainting spells were brought on by the heat in the over-packed club or by the extreme volume at which mogwai played wasn't clear, but the two made a lethal combination.

there was precious little flash to the group's performance, with frontman stuart braithwaite looking almost embarrassed about standing in the middle of the stage and occasionally singing. heads down and virtually steering clear of last year's rock action disc in favour of older, and newer, material, mogwai made up for style and variety with force.

each song was an epic, built around violent shifts in dynamics. there were eerily quiet moments when braithwaite's frail guitar lines were interrupted by ice tinkling in glasses, and moments of guitar aggression when, even with earplugs in, the volume was apocalyptic.

by the time mogwai reached their traditional closer, the 20-minute my father my king, the brutality seemed almost routine. had they played any longer, the entire audience might have collapsed from sheer exhaustion.

from ren:

it was an amazing show... great to see 'yes! i am a long way from home' back in the setlist... maybe one day we'll see 'katrien' or 'summer' again? as far as the new songs go, 'star wars' did not immediately bowl me over... not a bad tune, but not instantly impressive... the other two were better, 'nursery' being rather short and pretty. great stuff.