GIG NUMBER SEVENTY-TWO
Who
Being a low-key tour designed to road test the new songs and get the band warmed up again, I had to go all the way to Preston on a Sunday night (thankfully not too difficult due to a coach/train service running to a sensible time), ask the locals where the venue was, then having to contend with a cab driver who couldn't find the students union! However, despite a hectic day also involving a second viewing of the amazing Star Wars Episode III, I arrived outside before any queue had built up then got in at 7pm to find a crowd so chilled out that they didn't even bother to come down to the lower tier of the venue to guarantee a good position. I'd learnt when outside that this was an almost new venue that had showcased Supergrass just a few nights before and a forthcoming gig would be from Dr Carl Kennedy from Neighbours! So far Preston was impressing me, seeming almost a reasonable place to visit!
The crowd gradually built up and probably in the end the place was as good as packed. The DJ blasted songs by The Beach Boys and Grandaddy before Brave Captain came onstage. My knowledge of them as Martin Carr's band led me to confusion as it seemed that Mr Boo was just a roadie, spending most of the time hiding beside the stage and not making any musical contribution!! I eventually found out that I was mistaken and hence Martin Carr must had been onstage. Brave Captain played some pleasing noises and passed the time nicely. I spied Gruff making a dash across the backstage area and Daf hanging around behind a screen and this, coupled with interest into figuring out Martin's role in the band, made the time leading up to SFA's entrance pass by quite fast. I had high hopes upon hearing that there was no strict 11pm curfew that this set could last 2-3 hours, but a bit of info from a bouncer coupled with me recalling that it was a Sunday dashed this hope. I cemented my position standing in front of Bunf (somehow where I usually end up!) and saw Martin Carr (or so I thought at the time) also setting up the SFA set, which this time was quite bare apart from the usual video screen and some rather cool looking strobe lights. Also, Cian's keyboards were massively toned down, which first made me think that this was not going to be a return to the glorious chaotic and loud shows of old.
The video screen lit up and, as before, a hand written welcome to Preston was scrawled. My lengthy debate about possible opening tracks was answered when Slow Life cranked up again. Gruff appeared high up with the blue Juxtapozed With U box before vanishing and reappearing with his red Power Rangers helmet. This was followed with (Drawing) Rings Around The World, which was simultaneously an obvious and shocking choice. I was amazed to see a rehash of the previous tour being used as an opener, and it was also a slightly cruel teaser towards a greatest hits set considering what was to follow. But, then again, SFA have always been weakest at opening shows and choosing what would make two obvious choices to open a perfect greatest hits set is hard to really complain about.
What followed after the chant of "SFA OK!" was certainly unexpected, as we got the gloriously lush newbie The Horn in addition to Ohio Heat, which was similarly pleasant. Hello Sunshine got us back to the hits and, although I've always rated it as a particularly lame choice of single, for some reason I really loved it and would perhaps make this my favourite song of my night! This follows on nicely from another page on this site where I explain why SFA rule by pointing towards the near infinite depths of their songs. Although this is no longer due to them being shrouded in layer after layer of insanity, my sudden appreciation of Hello Sunshine made me think that maybe their post-millennium output of quieter songs could be yet to strike me, and a deeper appreciation of the newer albums is to follow!
Frequency was new, but sadly Run! Christian, Run! still kept its prominent and lengthy spot in the set. This is a song that everyone else seems to love but which still makes no sense to me whatsoever: SFA are even beyond me at times!! Zoom! was a very nicely energised and dense number, which made me think of Pink Floyd (but better) and a nice direction to follow from the Status Quo one of Golden Retriever and (Drawing) Rings Around The World. I could not see any relation to the version of Zoom! played on the John Peel show four years previously, but when I got Love Kraft I determined that the intro was very similar. Atomik Lust gave Daf a chance to shine on lead vocals before Cian's computer crashed and gave Gruff an opportunity to sing solo snippets of Fire In My Heart and, in inspired fashion, Kumbyah. He joked about it being to fill up space before giving us a lengthy explanation of Cloudberries prior to yet another new song. At this point individual details have almost totally eluded me due to the sheer weight of new songs, although I believe the band were down to just Gruff and Daf around this time. I must also add that Gruff had shaggier hair than ever and the band generally seemed to be slimmer than before (for what that's worth!)
It certainly is true that Colonise The Moon sounds a lot like No Sympathy, which is funny because that excellent tune was slammed at the time for having yet another techno wig out on the end! Excellent atmosphere was provided by a wind-up mini birdcage contraption and insect samples. It seemed SFA were lying when they were said that they didn't want to sound Brazilian on Love Kraft!! By this time however you could tell much of the crowd were getting restless for a few hits. What we'd had so far was an uninspired opening, more new songs than I'd anticipate from even The Divine Comedy and tunes I'd hoped in advance would be dropped from the set in between! It's hard to know how to react to this as it's obvious SFA had wanted to try out the new songs and find out which deserve to be in the live set for the "proper" pop tour later on in the year. It was also true that the standard of new songs was as high as I'd expect, as much as I'd still like the fuzzy techno rock album that would take SFA in the direction they really should be going! But I still wish they'd drop those undesirable slow songs, as they could comfortably play two hours of loud b-sides instead and I think everyone would be happier!
However opinion did seem to be mixed as, when the band reminded us this was their "first gig of the season", there wasn't a shortage of people willing to shout out praise to say that they were "already 3-0 up!" As nice as this was to hear, it hardly compared with the metaphorical 27-0 thrashing they'd delivered at their Stoke gig in 1999!! However, the Super Furries have enough sense to know we expected some hits so the final part of the show delivered the goods and were enough to put a (probably understandable) airing of new material in perspective. You could tell Juxtapozed With U bought a sigh of relief to everyone and the sheer loveliness of this song made me start to think forwards again. Although being yet another new song, Lazer Beam didn't destroy the momentum as it was the new single and an interesting effort featuring a false ending, use of the strobes/lasers onstage and a dense bit of guitar. It's nice to see that the new album looked set to be varied!
Something 4 The Weekend was a wonderful surprise despite being very slow and, much like the rest of the set, not as loud as it should have been. Do Or Die also picked me up and made me wonder how I ever disliked this joyful two minute burst of pop. However, it was the return of Ice Hockey Hair which really made me happy and now they've given it a coherent ending it stands as proof that there's something about SFA which no-one may ever be able to match. My main worry beforehand had been whether it would be dropped so it was a massive relief that The Man Don't Give A Fuck maintained its role as greatest closing song ever and its proud record of the only song SFA have played every time I've seen them. At last the crowd went mad and I found myself crushed, we all booed to the Blair/Bush images as the "all governments are liars and murderers" loop came up again. It wasn't all as before though, as Gruff came in too early and, on a more positive note, the techno at the end was more inspired than ever as it remained clearly TMDGAF from start to finish and mixed in a nice unknown song in the process. A few crowd surfers came over and the band swapped things round and did the final rock-out before the techno climax, although even for TMDGAF the light show never got going to anywhere near the extent it did in the old days. Cian was last offstage and shouts for an encore came about. Further scrawled messages from the band to say thank you and goodbye revealed that, as usual, there would be no (ordinary) encore, that the show was over and, although there were dozens of them handed out, I didn't get a setlist AGAIN, nor a t-shirt!
A few people cheerfully booed as "goodbye" was written but I seemed to pick up a positive reaction to the show afterwards from the crowd, suggesting that playing new songs is being forward-looking and that as they were good songs anyway it doesn't matter. But it was strange to see a mix between a choice of old songs that sounded like a rehash of previous shows and endless new songs, leaving the b-sides and all songs from Radiator well alone, even Demons for once! I was definitely upset to see Calimero dropped, and it's numbers like Night Vision, The International Language Of Screaming, Golden Retriever, Play It Cool, Bad Behaviour, She's Got Spies and Northern Lites which I'm still waiting to be reinstated, especially now we'd been robbed of a proper greatest hits tour! As anyone who actually listens to me when I talk about SFA would know (i.e. almost no-one) I have always been amazingly critical towards them and have been no different in this review, and as usual have picked over every single thing I didn't like, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and the absence of so many old songs just reminded me how much I like them. There seemed no doubt that it would be a bolder and stronger SFA I'd be seeing later on in the year (both in Liverpool and Manchester!!) and as such I wouldn't look back on this low-key show with too much disappointment. The big question for me though is when SFA will be greatest band on Earth solely due to their previous output and not on current form.
Mark: 8.0/10
Super Furry Animals
Support
Brave Captain
Where
Preston 53 Degrees
When
22nd May 2005
Price
£13.50
Who with
No-one
Position
At the front, in the middle!
Comments
Since I'd last seen SFA over 18 months previously, I'd seriously got into The Beach Boys who had come along and provided the largest threat to the Super Furries rarely challenged eight year reign as my undisputed favourite band on Earth. The only other contenders being a shot from The Flaming Lips in 2000 (although once I realised it was solely their live show guiding them to such dizzy heights their challenge faded away) and mild efforts from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (1998) and perhaps Grandaddy (2001). However, SFA did enough to keep their position at the top on this night despite what was a set spectacularly low on hits and familiar tunes, but this seemed only to increase the happy fuzzy feelings I felt towards the classic numbers.
Setlist
Slow Life
(Drawing) Rings Around The World
The Horn
Ohio Heat
Hello Sunshine
Frequency
Run! Christian, Run!
Zoom!
Atomik Lust
Cloudberries
Colonise The Moon
Juxtapozed With U
Lazer Beam
Something 4 The Weekend
Do Or Die
Ice Hockey Hair
The Man Don't Give A Fuck
