Mogwai Sets the Tone for a Beautiful Night
On Sunday, music fans waited hours to gain entrance to Liberty State Park, during which time it rained in torrents, creating mud and puddles where thousands would soon gather for the final day of All Points West. This didn't stop a couple of thousand people from showing up for Mogwai's tight, melodic, 50-minute set two hours after the gates finally opened.
This instrumental five-piece band from Scotland provided a welcome relief from the normal lyric based group. Though a popular band worldwide, many had never heard of Mogwai.
"Isn't a Mogwai from the movie Gremlins?" a newbie asked. "Yeah, Gizmo was a Mogwai," someone answered. As the chatter continued, the guys from Glasgow continued their dreamy, shoe-gazing art rock. "Do they have any lyrics?" another asked. "Barely," someone familiar with the band replied. "They're mainly instrumental."
Three guitarists, a bassist, plenty of reverb, and an out of control drummer create the ingredients. The recipe called for long, spacey intense rock-driven jams. The set came out delicious. Fans listened closely and gladly went along for the trip, which felt like a Great Adventure roller coaster. Mogwai also had the honor of playing at dusk, so as the sun set, their light show came alive adding to the ambiance of their long instrumentals.
Mogwai played the Bullet Tent, which happened to get the worse of the muddy conditions. Luckily, this band's style of music didn't call for a lot of dancing. What they did successfully was captivate a crowd that needed to be elevated. The audience needed a lift, and Mogwai's music had to provide the perfect vehicle, or else the day was in jeopardy of becoming a wash out.
Near the back of the crowd there was a huge swamp of mud. A group of eight decided to strip down to their undies and flop around like a band of electric intergalactic earthworms. To see kids embrace the conditions proved to be inspiring to those in the area, who were then free to surrender to Mogwai's jams. Mogwai really opened up Day Three. They proved to be the perfect transition band. Besides escorting day into night, they helped elevate the dampened mood of the day, allowing people to forget about the rough conditions and accept the reality of the situation, which still promised a solid four hours of music from a variety of bands, including Coldplay.
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