Extreme Listening Mode!

We’ve been getting criticism for our basically-racist stance of disliking the Welsh because of…well, I’m pretty sure I don’t really need to spell it out to you if you’re not Welsh, and if you are, you probably wouldn’t understand anyway. But in the interests in fairness we thought we really should see if there is more to their culture than the cliched images of leek, sheep and suicides. So we sent our most scabrous contibutor, the devillish Scant Regard, to go and see one of their most famous exports…..

I, much like my esteemed colleague ELM, am not very partial to the Welsh. Not in an Ann Robinson way, I have nothing against them as a race, I just don’t really like their accents very much. This, coupled with the fact they gave the world not only the Manic Street Preachers, but the also the Stereophonics, makes it quite hard to like music made in Wales.

So, why, I hear the voice in my head ask, did I find myself standing outside the ABC last week with a ticket to see the Super Furry Animals in my sweaty hand? It’s a very long story thats origins go back into the mists of time – 1998, to be precise, when my brother first asked me if I wanted to go and see them. No, I said, they are Welsh.

He went, he raved, and has asked me to go on every other occassion they have played in Glasgow. He finally wore me down in about 2001, when I realised that actually, they had some pretty good tunes. But alas, the fates were against us, and every time they have played Glasgow since then I have been unavailable. Until tonight, when the stars finally aligned. I have yet to meet anyone who has seen SFA live and hasn’t loved them, and now I know why.

The mixture of enthusiasism and ability is hard to find with any band, never mind one that’s been going for 15 years. The set list is basically their greatest hits – ‘God, Show Me Magic’, Something for the Weekend’, If You Don’t Want Me to Destroy You’, ‘Juxtaposed with U’, ‘(Drawing) Rings Around the World’, ‘Golden Retriever’ to name a few, with a couple off the new album thrown in for good measure, blasted at us in a huge wall of sound.

Throughout, Gruff holds up various signs saying “Danke”, “Applause”, and finally “Say no to fake encores”. Not that he really needed to ask for applause, as the crowd are more than vocal. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a gig with such a fantastic atmosphere, and, well, strange things happened. People who are familiar with my musings here will know I’m not really that easily pleased (or, more accurately, I am very easily displeased), but I found myself dancing. Yes, DANCING. So, if SFA play near you, I urge you to go. I will. I’ll even cancel other plans I have. God bless Wales.

Filed under: gigs Tagged: | "Glasgow ABC", gigs in scotland, gruff rhys, sfas, super furry animals, supperfurry animals live