Mogwai, The Olympia Theatre

Sean Duffy writes.

Where to begin with Mogwai? The band that brought you the soundtrack for the movie Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, were in Dublin this Tuesday to display their own considerable talent. That Mogwai were selected for the portrait of Zidane is somewhat fitting, their own intuition and inventiveness every bit as beguiling for the audience as anything the French maestro could do on a football field. Effortlessly gliding from sadness to hope in an instant, Mogwai also possess the ability to baffle and inspire in equal measure.

Plenty of guitar pedals, white noise and electro riffs as standard, but it is where the band manages to take you, through the fusion of their various talents that truly takes the breath away. You got the impression at the end of this gig that much of the audience hadn’t quite figured out what they had just witnessed. The shaking of heads and rye smiles gave the impression of admiration and awe after a stirring performance from the Scottish five piece.

Guitar riffs tinged with nostalgia and regret had this crowd transfixed by the halfway point of this gig. Performances from the bands’ latest album, the brilliantly named Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will, is a suitable nod to the Mogwai’s darker instincts. San Pedro offers up an opportunity to release some frustration, with an in your face sound that has an air of belligerent defiance.

In fact, this band offer up a range in emotion through their music that is breathtaking. It rouses emotions in an unsuspecting observer, the range from subtle melancholy to uncompromising anger, is at times beautiful, occasionally scary, but always brilliant. New Paths to Helicon Part 1 is something in between and lulls the crowd into stunned silence. What is great about Mogwai is their ability to afford listeners an opportunity for emotional introspection in an age which wills us do everything but. The only downside is that you cannot bottle what you feel when you are listening to them.

It is to their credit that Mogwai have steadfastly decided to eschew the normal paths to superstardom. There are very few lyrics here to explore, and it is not very difficult to see why. This band says more with their music than words ever could.

The performance of Mogwai Fear Satan allows the only idiot in the building the opportunity to jump around a bit and spill his drink all over our notepad, but the bands encore soon has us pleased with ourselves again. They troop off at the end as if nothing had happened, leaving us all a little shocked and awed. A truly class act.