Memories of 2016 gigs #13

#13: Super Furry Animals
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff - 17 December 2016
Support: Goldie Lookin' Chain, Ffugs

A week before Christmas and people are generally winding down or partying excessively. Either way, when a band comes on stage, you want them to shake you down and blow your head off with their genius; their musical dexterity, their lyrical poetry, and their sheer enigmatic stage presence. And so it was, a week before Christmas, and we get all that and more because, ladies and gentlemen, Goldie Lookin' Chain are in the house!

Back at the Motorpoint for the second time in 10 days (having only set foot in the place twice in the previous ten years) and this promised to be a real biggie. The last date of the Super Furry Animals current tour - in which they are playing their first two albums complete, in order, back to back - was a hometown gig in the city's biggest indoor venue. It was an exclusively Welsh line-up, but openers Ffug (pronounced 'fig') were on so early we missed them, which is a shame as I quite wanted to see them. MrsRobster wouldn't have objected to the running order being swapped - she's not exactly a fan of Goldie Lookin' Chain. But they did seem to get the crowd going. Ten tracksuited, baseball cap-sporting chavs[1] bounded about the stage, extolling the virtues of Newport convenience shops (Baneswell Express), dealing marijuana (21 Ounces) and psychopathic girlfriends (Your Missus Is A Nutter). "It's like a fucked-up exercise class," observed the ever-erudite MrsRobster. "Worst support band ever." There were many there who would definitely disagree, though in fairness a fair few were off their heads.

The only real downside of GLC's titanic performance was the really poor sound, and this sadly continued throughout the main set. There were times during Super Furry Animals' performance when you couldn't actually hear much of what was going on other than the heavy beats and Cian's electronics. It didn't stop a frenetic response to nearly every song by the audience. You could consider the set to be a brave move by the band - they haven't played some of these songs in years, and I suspect one or two had never been played live at all! One thing that did strike me was how much 'Fuzzy Logic' seems to work as a live album. The songs are generally upbeat with plenty of singalong parts to them. 'Radiator', on the other hand, was something of a transitional record with slower songs and a tad more experimentation. That said, it was probably 'Radiator''s most unusual song that got the best crowd response of the evening - Hermann Loves Pauline was greeted with gusto by the hordes.

What was interesting was the age-range of the audience. There were a lot of kids there, having been brought by their parents. We were stood next to one family - which included three children aged, I would guess, between 8 and 13 - all of whom were wearing different SFA t-shirts and knew every word to every song. A heartwarming sight. My guess is none of these kids will be begging mum or dad to take them to see J****n B****r next year!

While you can't fault how SFA do things, I wish the sound could have done them justice. I wasn't the only one who remarked how terrible it sounded. Whoever was on the mixing desk should try a different profession. Not even the mandatory set-closer The Man Don't Give A Fuck sounded half decent, it was only the crowd reaction that gave it any real lift. They deserve so much better.


Soundtrack:

• Baneswell Express - Goldie Lookin' Chain (from 'Kings Of Caerleon')
• God! Show Me Magic [live] - Super Furry Animals (live at BBC 6 Music Live 2016)
• Mountain People [live] - Super Furry Animals (live at Glastonbury 2015)

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[1] They're not really chavs, it's just an act. One of them is actually an elected member of Newport City Council. Honestly! And if you're interested in seeing this fair city and its people, here's the video for Baneswell Express.