GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND TEN
Who
They were a Welsh Rage Against The Machine and were far better than the original article, in particular for coming across as cool people as opposed to greebo dicks. The crowd however were less impressive, instigating an unnecessary slam-pit to their less interesting moments. Following a similar reaction for Nine Black Alps it's a shame that Birmingham crowds just can't learn to react properly with a friendly moshpit! They were also throwing hard plastic glasses around with no thought for causing serious injury and we quickly escaped to the left side of the venue where it was quieter and we'd have a better view of Sergey for later! Skindred's dreadlocked singer Benji was doing his best to encourage more meaningful crowd participation such as screaming and pointing and I was very impressed by the crunchiness of their guitars. We were all resolutely silent for any attempts to drum up cheers for Birmingham (we have no affiliation with this awful place) but I appreciated their democratic attempt to persuade us to see their future show in the city, admitting that anyone who hadn't enjoyed them may be best to stay away! The faux emotional finish with much blowing of kisses was also memorable in a vein very similar to The Bluetones at Leeds 2000, and if it wasn't for the amount of moshing energy I predicted I'd be needing later I'd had met them even more enthusiastically. Not bad.
Gogol Bordello took to the stage a little after 9pm and burst into the expected opener of Ultimate. We moshed along happily but the sound quality at the Academy just isn't a patch on the Wulfrun. I did have a better view but through justifiable paranoia I kept taking my glasses on and off so they wouldn't get smashed! As before, the song burst into life and the Gypsy Punks banner was unveiled. Eugene was in buoyant mood, pretending to strangle one of the cheerleaders, and Sergey on violin was pulling the usual hilarious faces! Ultimate was followed by early highlight Not A Crime, which led to an energised bout of moshing and singing along. Supertheory Of Supereverything was transformed to provoke insanity, yet Wonderlust King was slightly too ragged for its own good. Gogol Bordello were already at the peak of their powers last time so there was very little different on show, and they were probably just as good as before, with the added bonus of my knowledge of the songs. The intense moshpit peaked with Mishto! and quite clearly everyone was knackered, and somehow I came away with a great big gash on my arm. Still, the moshpit wasn't as crazy as I'd hoped for based on the Wolverhampton crowd, and never did I feel my life was in danger. Also, as entertaining as everything was, the element of surprise had been taken away due to my watching so much live Gogol Bordello on YouTube.
Tribal Connection saw the return of Benji from Skindred and the place burst into insanity again for the ending of the main set - a chaotic American Wedding, Start Wearing Purple, which was unrecognisable until it hit the chorus, and a powerful Think Locally Fuck Globally, featuring the fire bucket solo. So far so great, and as the band came back on for an encore I could understand them wanting to take it easy by playing an endless version of Alcohol. I'm sure that a better song could have been extended instead though, but the Gogol Bordello way is to play continuously, whereas more conventional bands just stop and chat to the crowd for five minutes. A new song continued to drag down the pace of the show before an entertaining Harem In Tuscany (Taranta) got us all going again. By now though the time was getting on so half my mind was on catching the train. It's a shame, as Baro Foro is definitely better than all their other songs put together, and deserved my full energies and concentration. The band didn't help by playing a weird slow version of it mixed with random songs, but after ten minutes or so they finally unleashed a more proper rendition. One reason it's better than all their other songs combined is because, in this case, it actually WAS most of their songs combined, including elements of When The Trickster Starts A-Poking (Bordello Kind Of Guy), My Strange Uncles From Abroad and, of course, Undestructable. It was a sight to behold but this crazy mash-up detracted attention from the violin solo which should have been more prominent, and many of the crowd were too tired to go anywhere near as insane as Wolverhampton had managed.
The song finished as the band gathered in a huddle to pound us with a final bout of violins and it was definitely a closing song to rival The Man Don't Give A Fuck, good enough to provoke me to mosh on top of all the broken plastic glasses digging into my feet! We should have stayed to give them a rousing send-off but made the wrong decision of rushing for the train and still missing it, as ironically it was the first train of the day to depart on time! Gogol Bordello had defied the 11pm curfew by several minutes and I wish they hadn't wasted all that time on Alcohol and the hazy first part of Baro Foro so I could have got home properly. Nevertheless, Baro Foro was the tune I'd been waiting for and missing it just wasn't an option, and it was worth paying the extra £18 taxi fare for! I was sweatier than I'd been for a long time, my feet were damaged and my ears were whistling. If I were to ever retire from moshpits this certainly would be a noble place to finish! Part of me wants to see Gogol Bordello again and again, but on the other hand I'm concerned that they may never sound as downright exciting as they did the first time. However, despite the ridiculous levels of hype I'd attached to the show, Gogol Bordello succeeded, and if I had been brave enough to risk leaving my glasses on and the band had been concise enough to play a less drawn-out encore this could have been the ultimate!
Mark: 9.0/10
Gogol Bordello
Support
Skindred
Where
Birmingham Academy
When
22nd April 2008
Price
£14.00
Who with
Nick
Position
Towards the front, in the moshpit
Comments
Gogol Bordello seemed to have almost taken over my life in the previous eighteen months, providing a form of music that sounds completely fresh and insane yet tuneful enough for almost anyone to appreciate. It's very satisfying that over ten years after my first gig I can still feel so excited about new music, and that rather than going off "new" groups such as Arcade Fire or Arctic Monkeys I simply find something even better to overshadow them! Gogol Bordello had bowled me over four months previously and a repeat viewing was never in doubt. I was disappointed that they chose Birmingham Academy instead of a return visit to Wolverhampton but figured that no crowd or venue could negate this amount of energy and excitement, and it was nice to see they'd finally finished rebuilding the Rotunda in the city! The tour was to coincide with a single release of American Wedding that doesn't seem to have happened, and I was sufficiently enthusiastic enough about Gogol Bordello to persuade Nick along with little effort. I'd purchased all their albums and the E.P. and was now a proper fan with a good knowledge of all their tunes. Doors opened at 7pm and we arrived within an hour to find an enthusiastic albeit not capacity crowd in there. There was mostly gypsy style music played and also some Gogol Bordello remixes, which was great at first but later grew a little tiring. I had one can of fizzed up beer to follow the one enjoyed on the train in and we stood back as Skindred took to the stage to The Empire Strikes Back theme tune.
Setlist
Ultimate
Not A Crime
I Would Never Wanna Be Young Again
Supertheory Of Supereverything
Wonderlust King
Zina-Marina
Mishto!
Tribal Connection
60 Revolutions
Forces Of Victory
Dub The Frequencies Of Love
American Wedding
Start Wearing Purple
Think Locally Fuck Globally
Alcohol
(a new song)
Harem In Tuscany (Taranta)
Baro Foro (Mash-Up)
n.b. This setlist was from another gig, but it's either correct or similar
