Venue:
The Institute Birmingham
Date: 25/02/2015
After missing their Meltdown a couple of years ago I thought I might never have the chance to see the Mary Chain live. But no here the brothers Reid are, joining the complete album gig movement with their classid debut. Jim takes centre stage looking like an IT manager on a stag do, while deep in the dry ice lurks William – same haircut as on the Psychocandy sleeve. Filling out the stage are a tight band, including the crucial reverb-heavy drummer who provides the wall of sound beat so crucial to their sound. We get all of Psychocandy, and assorted b-sides and non-album singles. Great sound, and everyone onstage seems motivated. Perhaps the lack of touring means there’s enough to find in the songs to keep everyone interested. After an hour and twenty and about twenty tracks they’re done.
The audience:
A certain age, black the preponderant colour. More men than women. Dyed hair or no hair.
It made me think..
I recall that Psychocandy was viewed as something of a let down, so much hype had been invested in them after Upside Down and Never Understand. What a great album, perfectly paced.
Alas by the time they get to tour it down here , if they ever do, they will be totally over it.
thanks for the review
forgot to add that this may be a case of a band who may well have played the songs better now than first time round. Though their 20-min assaults on audiences in 1985 sounded very exciting but didn’t present their music in its best light….
How rowdy/beer-throwing were the audience? That’s what’s put me off buying tickets so far. Damn, I wish the site had been up over the past few months (and no, I don’t do Facebook and never will!)
I would say beer-drinking and happy, some singalonging but all very good-humoured. No throwing. Maybe enough of us are older and slower if not wiser
You lucky bugger, MM and what an ideal venue. if I hadn’t been there the week before, still with the swill of theonlybeerworthowtisguinness sloshing around. I were tempted, the missus less so (to let me)
Saw them at The Troxy in that London with The Boy last November. Started like a “normal” rock gig, but once William (was allowed to?) cut loose for the last two songs before the break, it went up a good few notches, as did the volume. Squares around us resorted to earplugs, and some even left before/during Psychocandy itself. I just grinned…
Magnificent and splendidly loud!
The volume on Upside Down ( last song of ‘set 1’ ) was loud enough to ( genuinely ) make my jeans flap around. Bloody marvelous.
I thought that the sound was loud and tight, but William was maybe reined in a bit. And again the secret to all great bands is a tight rhythm section, just as true for the JAMC with the two-note bass rumble and Spector drums anchoring everything.
Saw them at Edinburgh last week – sounds like the same show, and the only things I’d add:
– a good proportion (maybe even half?) of the audience were obviously too young to have been into them first time round. Maybe that’s a Scottish thing.
– I thought their take on Reverence (which I hadn’t known before) was magnificently Loop-ish, with terrific extended guitar-squalling intro.
– I thought the drumming actually let the thing down a bit – part of the whole point of JAMC (at least early on) was the utter back-to-basics of the drumming, using just 2 drums and no cymbals even. Whereas someone trying to rock it up on a full kit is kind of missing the point. The only song where it strangely worked was Upside Down – a perfect aural assault from the whole band.