GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND THREE
Who
I'd taken a bit of a gamble going to the cinema to see a movie that wouldn't finish until 8pm but it had paid off, and despite the fact I arrived an hour after doors opened I still strolled to the front, albeit much further right than I'm used to. I always seem to gravitate towards Bunf's side of the stage, and in this case I almost had to hurt my neck to look towards the band. Nevertheless, it was my twelfth consecutive SFA gig at the front, and they are now literally the only band I insist on getting to the front for. The venue hadn't sold out, and the balconies upstairs had been closed off. Already when I walked in a couple of Welsh guys were rapping onstage in what appeared to be a blatant GLC rip-off, holding a banner proclaiming the line they kept repeating - something along the lines of "chicken masala and chips and rice and beer". They were only there for a few minutes, and I wonder if they'd been up there for a full thirty minutes, which may have driven me mad. In this small quantity though they were quite amusing, albeit painfully loud, and my research afterwards revealed it to be Adam Hussain from Goldie Lookin' Chain, who was trading under the title of The Adam Hussain Show for this evening, although apparently these same two guys also go by the name of The Tenants Supermen. Still, I only saw two minutes or so of this before a wait for Jim Noir. He was backed by a normal band of three, so not quite sure what the difference is between him and a simple solo artist, and played a quite pleasing but shambolic set. He never knew what song to play next but that only made him all the more endearing. SFA often go for a supremely Welsh or downright weird support, so a simple English guy playing guitar was a nice change. Most memorable moment was a tune partly sung through a vocoder, but I think that most SFA fans will find that more than a little familiar. He also told those at the bar to be quiet and listen in a firm but charming manner, and it's a shame that they weren't paying attention at all. All very good so far, and now the wait for the main event. The aimless music that had been DJ'd between bands gradually morphed into something more interesting, with some noises that reminded me of Kowalski by Primal Scream, some old jangly 60s tune, Take A Load Off Your Feet by The Beach Boys and Now I Wanna Be Your Dog. The SFA stage was designed along the same lines as the album artwork, with a backdrop I couldn't really see, but also lots of cutouts of waves. In fact I wasn't even able to see Daf from where I was standing.
After slightly longer than I'd had chosen, the stage lights went down and a warped version of Baby Ate My Eightball was played over the speakers to herald the start of the show. The band then waltzed onstage, plugged in, and took over with the full-blown version. Compared to the golf buggy stunt this was a low-key entrance. There were no video screen, minimal light show and almost no gimmicks, besides Bunf's bushy beard - finally SFA had returned to basics! Golden Retriever, which went down a storm, and Do Or Die, which seems to get better every time I hear it, followed this and I couldn't resist a mosh. Being Birmingham though, the crowd were poor, and although applauding and cheering to an appropriate volume, there was no crush and not much jumping. Gruff welcomed us to "furry Sunday", but I didn't respond to the "hello Birmingham" greeting, as I am not prepared to affiliate myself with that awful place! We were then taken "back in time" with a lovely take on She's Got Spies, which was rewarding on several levels, although I almost mistook it for Cityscape Skybaby at first. Seeing the band free to play at their own pace, rather than following the lead set by their video screen, had loosened them up a bit. It was also great to hear this classic live for the first time in eight years, and that SFA were finally delving into their rich back catalogue rather than relying on the same songs. The tune was much more laid back than before, but the energy that had been stripped away revealed the loveliness of the tune, and perfectly suited a band who are ten years older and more experienced. The only downer was the people next to me talking through it, claiming not to have heard it before - fuck off to the back! Next up was a ragged take on The Gateway Song and a lovely Run-Away, before a reworked Northern Lites. Gruff's vocals sounded the same but the calypso beat had been replaced by a more standard guitar approach, and the strength of the song with its uniqueness stripped away was revealed to all. Cian had taken over backing vocals from Bunf at this point and I was watching the band carefully, looking for the much-discussed signs of boredom. This had been noticeable on some previous dates, but generally they seemed happy to be onstage, and most unusually seemed to gain the most pleasure from singing the biggest hits, rather than in bombarding us with new tunes!
Battersea Odyssey was the token Bunf moment, and was alright, albeit probably the worse point of the set. Thankfully the mid-section of endless slow songs had been completely abandoned at long last, and the absence of Run! Christian, Run! and Demons had kept the energy levels much higher throughout for all concerned. One thing that had always irked me about Hey Venus! reviews was those who called it a return to form. The live show may have gone downhill for a while, but SFA have always remained a hugely consistent band, and Love Kraft was a stunning album, probably the equal of Hey Venus! Zoom! however wasn't the best way to encapsulate it. I've heard great things being said about it but it just seemed too complex and overlong, and so loud that I really thought that the speakers in front of me might explode! It was the only tune from Love Kraft tonight and, despite being a stunner along with the glorious Atomik Lust on record, it just doesn't quite cut it live. I suppose you could say similar about Down A Different River. It was great to see it back and transformed into a proper stoner anthem, but it works better on record. Gruff then teased us by announcing a brand new song (something the band almost never do live) written by Bunf, which had an action of our putting our hands to our heads and wriggling our fingers! It was called Earth and was about five seconds long. Is it just a live joke? Will it ever make it onto record in some form? As it's so insubstantial I won't be adding it to the main section of my website just yet, but it was nice to see the band enjoying teasing us with it. It was done again later in the evening I believe, when Gruff claimed to have forgotten how it goes! Ymaelodi Â'r Ymylon was a welcome return to the set also, featuring Jim Noir on guest vocals. Could he speak Welsh? Could you even hear him? I don't know, but this new mid-section was much more energetic and exciting than it used to be, even if most of the tunes were still relatively mid-tempo. The Gift That Keeps Giving for example, which was lovely enough to triumph, with Cian taking his place on guitar and Gruff getting behind the keyboards in a Macca moment. Juxtapozed With U was even introduced as being middle of the road (the most dangerous place to be), but it remains such a perfect pop song which the band seemed to enjoy particularly. The vocoder broke down, leaving Gruff doing the distorted bits on keyboards instead, before throwing it across the stage in frustration, much to Bunf's amusement. Juxtapozed regularly seems to be beset with technical problems but is all the more loveable for it, and marked the main point when Gruff gets to the front of the stage and tried to encourage crowd participation.
Show Your Hand also was very nice, but was blown out of the water by Receptacle For The Respectable. It's always been my favourite from Rings Around The World, and thanks to its awesome guitar solo on the end it is becoming the crowds favourite too. Gruff hurriedly munched through a bag of crisps to simulate the celery, then threw it into the crowd, and the rock-out at the end was SFA reclaiming their mantle as the loudest band on Earth. I was deaf for days afterwards, and the moment when they hold their guitars in the air then rub them together is now a highlight almost up there with The Man Don't Give A Fuck. Next followed an intermission, as a sign was left onstage proclaiming "back in 5 minutes"! There was no time for boredom though - The Adam Hussain Show returned to the stage donning Superman capes for another random shouty rap song about loving beer. In this small quantity they were quite amusing, as they encouraged us all to sing along. The lights then went down again for Slow Life, as I predicted. Although I heard a few blasphemous words of complaint, it remains a firm favourite, and the Power Rangers helmet seems destined to remain until some humourless criminal nicks it. (Drawing) Rings Around The World followed and it was just like the Phantom Power tour all over again. Neo Consumer then showed just what an incredible rock band SFA can still be in 2007, and it's a shame there weren't more "speaker blowing" tracks like this that we were promised on the album, but which never arrived. God! Show Me Magic was as good as you'd expect, no further comments necessary, and the return of If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You was a pleasant surprise, even if Gruff had forgotten a word or two. Every single album was being represented tonight, making for their most balanced set possibly ever. I've heard that the band have short memories, so I guess all these oldies had to be relearned effectively from scratch. Hello Sunshine was the song before The Big One, and was more than overwhelmed by its shadow. The energy levels had been high throughout, so it's a shame that Calimero had been dropped as it always works so well. The Man Don't Give A Fuck has never been dropped from the show in my experience and remains amazing enough to trigger a proper moshpit at last, good warm up or not. The band seem to love performing this song so much, although much of that may be feeding back off the insane reaction it gets, and it was the most concise rendition I'd heard in a long time, with no techno wig-out at all - just pure rock! I despise crowd surfers and their anti-social activity, but I can't help but feel disappointed that there hadn't been any.
In what would have been a massive shock if I hadn't read about it beforehand, the set finished with Keep The Cosmic Trigger Happy, which was short and sweet. After so much drawn-out techno and downright insanity in the past, such a crisp ending to an SFA gig worked extremely well. And seeing the band waving signs at us proclaiming "keep it real", "thank you Brum" and "the end" was especially sweet. It was now after 11pm making for a rather late finish for a Sunday night show. I had hoped to get a t-shirt but decided to rush off for the train, and was therefore disgusted to miss it, thanks to it leaving a minute early and due to my honesty in buying a ticket! My feet were now hurting and it was a frustrating end to the night, but I got a huge coke from McDonalds to tide me over until the next train (a luxurious Virgin Train rather than a grotty all-stopper). This delay would be losing me 30 minutes of sleep, but the positive was that I drafted almost this entire review on my phone, noting all the details I usually forget. It was disappointing to see how few people had travelled to the show tonight from Wolverhampton, so there was nobody to share my taxi fare with. I sincerely hope the smug and unpleasant breed of people known as taxi drivers are punished accordingly - it costs an eye-watering amount to get home, and you'd expect to be treated like a prince at that price. Instead I was ordered to pay before departing and the only relief was that I got my change OK - does anybody really tip these guys? Don't they get enough of our money already?! But rant aside, this had been a great evening. It had been a relatively short set thanks to the late start, omitting Carbon Dating and Let The Wolves Howl At The Moon from other nights on the tour (which is a good thing), but sadly Mrs Spector wasn't played, which was such a rarity for them to bring back into the fold that I don't think it was even played at the time! The only era that hadn't been well represented with hits was 1997-98, and classics such as The International Language Of Screaming, Calimero, Play It Cool, Ice Hockey Hair and Hermann ©'s Pauline could have turned this into the greatest set ever. It also raises the question of what other old classics can be reintroduced into future sets if the band continue their tactic of mixing it up. Just off the top of my head, Torra Fy Ngwallt Yn Hir, Organ Yn Dy Geg, Night Vision, Ysbeidiau Heulog, Frisbee, Lazy Life (Of No Fixed Identity), Hangin' With Howard Marks, Guacamole, Focus Pocus/Debiel, Chupacabras, Bad Behaviour, or indeed any number of fantastic b-sides, would go down a storm. After ten years, Super Furry Animals remain my undisputed number one band, and it will indeed take something marvellous to knock them off their perch.
Mark: 9.0/10
Super Furry Animals
Support
Jim Noir
The Adam Hussain Show
Where
Birmingham Academy
When
28th October 2007
Price
£17.50
Who with
No-one
Position
At the front, towards the right
Comments
At the time of writing, with The Flaming Lips on six viewings and Shed Seven/The Open in joint third place with five viewings, SFA remain by far and away my most seen band, and nobody has ever overtaken them at any point in my gigging life. I was now fortunate enough to be seeing them for the thirteenth time and, despite the unlucky number, this evening was pretty excellent all round. Arcade Fire had dominated the first half of my year and I was starting to think that they were ahead of Super Furry Animals. I must clarify that SFA remain my favourite band ever but, in terms of how good their music is in 2007, Arcade Fire were really giving the SFA a run for their money. Fortunately this show helped restore the balance back towards the Furries, and Montreal's finest didn't do anything quite special enough at Alexandra Palace the following month to wrangle back the crown for band of the year. Age clearly has not bred taste in my circle, as I had to go by myself and, although I'd heard Hey Venus! a few times over, I didn't go out of my way to musically prepare. Baby Ate My Eightball and Run-Away had already shown themselves to be incredible tunes, but I have the back catalogue etched into my soul so there was no need for me to hear it beforehand. SFA seem to be moving further into obscurity thanks to yet another record label that can't be bothered to promote them properly. Show Your Hand wasn't even afforded a promo video and wasn't distributed effectively to the shops, and I would still love to live in that alternate world where Baby Ate My Eightball thrashes Bryan Adam's record of 16 weeks at number one! The show was on a Sunday which made a taxi home almost inevitable, and I decided to go into town early and catch Saw 4 which was what I expected it to be - more gore, but done less well - and the horror of what was on screen naturally cannot compare with the horror of uncomfortable Odeon seats! I went to KFC, had a McFlurry and ignored all the locals, all in all making for one of my nicest visits to The Worst City In The World. I presume Wolverhampton Civic is too expensive to book or something, as why else would anyone continue to play at Birmingham Academy? I have to mention it in every review, just so people don't think I'm condoning Birmingham or something!
Setlist
Baby Ate My Eightball
Golden Retriever
Do Or Die
She's Got Spies
The Gateway Song
Run-Away
Northern Lites
Battersea Odyssey
Zoom!
Down A Different River
Earth
Ymaelodi Â'r Ymylon
The Gift That Keeps Giving
Juxtapozed With U
Show Your Hand
Receptacle For The Respectable
Slow Life
(Drawing) Rings Around The World
Neo Consumer
God! Show Me Magic
If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You
Hello Sunshine
The Man Don't Give A Fuck
Keep The Cosmic Trigger Happy
n.b. This might be in the correct order. Maybe.
