The nights entertainment began with Thirteen:13, seemingly samey and equally forgettable the band just bordered on the mediocre… and I’m not gonna dwell on mediocrity, especially not on that night!
One has to feel sorry for main support act Mo*Ho*Bish*O*Pi, dogged with all the technical problems often associated with the opening night of a tour, things never really went their way. After a chaotic and problematic start to their brief set the band seemed to reaffirm their stumbling feet, and as their confidence grew so did their sound. Now I like this band, as always they look and sound as cool as fuck! They have this unique sense of style and an abundance of charm; their music just seems to overflow with charisma. To be honest I was a little disappointed and seemingly worried by the opening which was comprised of fragmented and half completed songs, but all this can be forgiven- after all, it was more to do with technicalities than the band themselves. That aside the second half of the set was truly superb. ‘Hear The Air’ had to be the highlight and from that moment on everything just clicked, the vocals were powerful and the music upbeat almost bordering on the jovial, a great way to set the atmosphere. As the hostile crowd warmed to their more diverse and unique style, the band in return responded by loosening up enjoying, like the crowd, the moment. Mo*Ho*Bish*O*Pi are defiantly a band worth catching both on record and live, because to be blatantly honest this performance (through not real fault of their own) just didn’t do them full justice.
This tour comes just before the release of My Vitriol’s debut album ‘Finelines’, it seems weird to say tracks off of the debut, for some reason to me it just feels like the band have been around forever. I could perhaps put it down to the clarity in which they play, that air of superiority that separates them from the crowd of just average - yet hotly tipped new bands. They have real stage presence and such an impressive sense of tightness that allows the music to articulate with greater ferocity. Or maybe it’s because I’ve waited for this album for so long, and from the evidence submitted that night, the wait was worth it! The set was comprised 60:40 in favour of the *new* - previously unheard songs, blended and broken up with previously released singles, and a host of superior b-sides added in for good measure and to equilibrate the proceedings. In truth My Vitriol have evolved as a *live* band, they showed a great sense of musical progression, not to mention a heightened band togetherness. They’re stopped just being a band that showed promise, instead they’ve become a *great* band.
The unreleased songs seemed to somehow link all the singles, placing them into the wider context; a context that we hope the forthcoming album continues to articulate. Seemingly more instrumental in set-up, with attention to detail being paid to each and every sound throughout. Every drumbeat was flawlessly timed, each bass tone was perfectly pitched, every guitar riff reverberated around the stony walls of the Arts Centre with immaculate expression and every vocal moment acoustically echoed in a near perfect style. Not only did Som’s vocals create untold emotion and enunciate pensive thoughts through each word sung; it seemed that his meanderings, pulled every sound, every pitch, every reverberation together and heightened the musical experience felt by the majority of what seemed to be a well mixed crowd. Now My Vitriol aren’t a band to see if you want audience interaction so to speak, throughout Som will only mumble a few inaudible strands of dialect. This meant that the song titles of many of the new album tracks still remain unknown to me, but what does it matter, I know what they sound like- and they sound good! And credit where it’s due- to the sound guys. The engineering and mixing done on the night was nothing short of spectacular especially taking into consideration all the technical problems encountered earlier.
The recently re-released single ‘Always’ produced what could only be described as a rapturous reception, played with that extended live intro that teases the audience before erupting into life with the more familiar sounds simply ringing out, a definite high-light it has to be said. The set was opened with ‘Losing Touch’, a perfect tone setter for the evening, where it seemed perfectly viable to just ‘lose touch’ with reality and become almost submerged in the sounds, atmosphere and ambience of the night. As already mentioned the weighting of the set was near perfect with the more gentle and pensive moments such as ‘grounded’ creating genuine emotion, flowing through the crowd in a wave of pure subtlety creating an almost ambiguous air. This contrasted perfectly to the harsher and more rock based tracks, which seemed to produce angst feelings, thrown at the audience in true vitriolic style creating that certain amount of passion and ardour that we often come to associate with bands such as My Vitriol.
Of course no set would be complete without the ostensibly compulsory rendition of ‘Tongue Tied’- wrapping up and greatly extending all the emotions, acting as a soundtrack- which like the night changed in tempo, tone and temperament. Always (pun not intended!) good to end on such a high note. From this we can conclude that as a band My Vitriol have matured, lets hope the album lives up to this new found live expectation.
Gigs like this, don’t just leave your ears ringing, they leave your mind ringing- drowning in the warmest of feeling, and they leave your whole body buzzing- not knowing who or what has just hit it. Any problems and worries encountered during the day are soon forgotten, lost amongst the intensified milieu. At that point you fail to exist as *just* an individual, you become a collective yet still grasping *your* musical experience. But just as soon as it all started, it all seemed to draw to a close. The last few chords of ‘Tongue tied’ hit the high ceiling, the last drum beats echoed round the stony walls and Som’s screams penetrated the audience for one final time, all that remained was the feedback.
Ladies and Gentlemen, My Vitriol had left the building… but don’t worry they’ll be back!
