Mogwai, Forest Swords – The O2 Apollo, Manchester – Friday 27th February 2026
MOGWAI
With the Foo Fighters in town and the Brits over the weekend, Manchester music city is the place to be right now. A little corner of Ardwick though tonight is Scottish. Call it synchronicity, call it deja vu, almost three years to the week after we witnessed Mogwai in town laying waste to The Albert Hall they’ve moved up to the Apollo.
Post Rock, Post Punk, Post whatever the label, live Mogwai is an experience. Where their set at the Albert might have tested the ‘how much can you take’ volume threshold of some attendees, the open spaces of the Apollo, certainly in the upper tiers, while similarly loud in some of the crescendos, was a fine mix of clarity and balance. Clearly, they make a noise that needs not to be contained by the more intimate confines that constrict the smaller venues.
CHERRY PICKING
New album The Bad Fire is well represented in the close to two hour set whose broad selection cherry picks from, and acknowledges their healthy catalogue. Having checked the playlists on the tour so far, we anticipate a bit of setlist bingo, but are fortunate enough that they’ve saved up enough energy for music that travels back almost thirty years to the debut for a couple of journeys of epic proportions.
With the band happy to remain in place and play their parts (although you always get the feeling that Stuart Braithwaite is on the edge of breaking loose, but just manages to rein it in as he scrubs at his strings and crafts shrill atmosphere) the setting is simple and effective. Four rows of eight spotlights are topped with an overhead bank so the much loved ‘silhouette and shadow’ effect is lessened. Several strategically placed tube strip lights, form our quarters, give a 3D, drop shadow effect.
FEAR NO-ONE
Not only is it loud, but it’s hot. Young Braithwaite has to strip off his smart retro track top after God Gets You Back, even though the musical temperature is only currently on simmer and has yet to hit a peak. Summer gives the first indication of the might of the volume and devastating crescendos but by the half hour mark we’re treated to one of the Mogwai set pieces as Fear Satan builds on its insistent and hypnotic rhythm patter, rising and falling until the explosive return has some of the circle crowd start in their seats. If this is mid-set, what have they saved for the encore?
Amidst the monolithic bruising they casually deliver, early set moments from The Bad Fire including Pale Vegan Hip Pain, are more crafted and deliberate alternatives. Fanzine Made Of Flesh feels like it was written to be played in Manchester . Not the only selection tonight that feels right at home in the home of an iconic and genre defining musical place. Richie Sacramento likewise with the rare appearance of an understated vocal part only adding to the effect. And of course any time they play How To Be A Werewolf (the 6 Music video is never far from the screen at ATB-HQ) and the son et lumiere comes into its own, we’re in Mogwai heaven.
MEASURED SUBTLETY
The second of the extended set pieces comes with the My Father My King encore. A value for money twenty minute piece that eases in with the emphasis on ethic vibes and more measure and subtlety. It follows the wild abandon of main set closer, Like Herod where the shock factor returns with a vengeance; a bucking wail and Metal pulse with the volume needle in the red that goes toe to toe with Satan. An arrangement that sits teetering, often unbearable, on the edge of tension for a blow that you know is going to come…or not.
In one of their more relaxed moments, they play May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door. Even though they may occasionally blow down the door with a nuclear wave of sound, Mogwai, always doing it on their own terms, are a marvellous tonic.
FOREST SWORDS
Our ‘always see the support’ mantra was tested by Forest Swords, the musical alter ego of Matthew Edward Barnes. Less of the seeing and more of the hearing as he conjured up a set of sonic landscapes on what might be called a darkened stage, supported by only a rear single light projection. His set was more about the audio than the visuals the sonic architect gave a lesson in the art of sound manipulation. Industrial throbs that induce a feeling of claustrophobia blend with vocal samples and some Adrian Belew-esque (check 80s Crimson) injured animal howls.
Mogwai: Website
Forest Swords: Website