Mew @ Mod Club

December 8th, 2009

Mew mew mew mew, mew mew mew mew, mew mew mew mew mew mew mew mew

This one time, at the Virgin Festival… (there are so many places this story could go)… I was in the front row to watch this band perform. I think us savvy music people all know that a good song can really move you. (Just watch those iPod shadow guys dance!) But it’s also true that a good song can glue you to the spot, because you’re just so blown away by what you’re hearing.

That was me, listening to Mew, back in August. So you can bet I was psyched when I heard they were coming back to play the Mod Club. Which they did. On Sunday night. And I was not disappointed. No sirree!

Two things made me sad about the V-Fest set of yore. #1: It was too short, only half an hour. #2: The band only played songs from No More Stories, their latest album. Luckily, the band made up for it at the nearly-sold-out show on Sunday, launching into the opening two tracks from their stupidly-good album Frengers right off the bat. This was quickly followed by a foray into …And the Glass-Handed Kites territory that had the audience singing along with Jonas and the boys as they rocked through “Special”.

The night only got better when the band started projecting video onto a screen behind them. Suddenly there were cats playing violins, scary humanoid monkeys, a tree that grew out of the floor, a bruised and beaten children’s choir to help out with “Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy”, and a demonic teddy bear that just wanted to be friends.

Through it all the band kept the night flowing around us with delicately synth-flavoured tracks like “Hawaii” and “Silas the Magic Car”, and pulled off a gorgeous display of vocal harmonies to cap off “The Zookeeper’s Boy”. They also pulled out the twitchy gems of “Introducing Palace Players” and “Repeaterbeater” like wind-up toy-zombie-soldiers fighting an epic battle against lawyers. Or accountants. Or something equally grand.

The best part of the night – and coincidently, the reason I had jelly-knees when the set was over – was when the band came onstage for the encore and played “Comforting Sounds” while a starfield exploded on the video screen behind them! It was SO… well, to sum it up: the guy in front of me had a friend standing a few rows back. At the end of the show, the friend asks “What was it like standing up there?” Front row dude replies calmly, “I can see the whole world from here.”

Yes.
arty mew

The setlist:
Am I Wry? No
156
Special
The Zookeeper’s Boy
Introducing Palace Players
Repeaterbeater
Hawaii
Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy
Beach
Silas the Magic Car
Apocalypto
Saviours of Jazz Ballet
Evil Bear Outro

Encore:
Louise, Louisa
Comforting Sounds

Tags: concert reviews, concerts, mew, reviews