Music > Live Reviews

Super Furry Animals

The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA

07/12/16

For twenty years now there's only been one band for me. I mean, I love other music and listen to a lot, but if anybody were to ask me who my favourite band is I wouldn't have to bat an eyelid...Super Furry Animals. From tours to festival appearances to solo gigs to warehouse parties, I've lost count now but it must be well over twenty times I've seen these guys in some form or another. So when I heard that they were touring their first two albums back to back I not only jumped at the chance, I'm not ashamed to admit I even choked up a little.

I arrive at the LCR with a group of friends in plenty of time to grab a drink and buy a bobble hat. We bump into more friends, have a quick catch up. But I can't really concentrate on what they're saying to me - this has the potential to be the best gig ever and I'm fuzzy with excitement.

Support act Bill Ryder-Jones takes to the stage with minimal fuss or fanfare - in fact it's only the lowering of the house lights that make me realise him and his band have come onstage at all. This year's West Kirby County Primary is thoroughly enjoyable and it's nice to see that it has a more beefed up sound when played live. With hints of Pavement, Dinosaur Jr and Nick Drake, it's a nice and pleasant enough set and feels very much like the calm before the storm that is about to hit us. As Bill begins his final song of the evening, he sings the opening verse of the Furries' Arnofio/Glô In The Dark over the intro. At first I thought it was going to be a straight up cover version which would have been ill judged, but as it was it felt like a fitting tribute and a nice segue into the main act.

It's normally at this point in an SFA gig that the drink has taken hold and I'm down the front, excitedly dancing to a beat that doesn't yet exist. As I'm reviewing tonight and have limited myself to one beer, I'm stood at the side ready to drink in the spectacle that unfolds before me. The stage is set up with Pete Fowler's monsterism props, LED's lighting up Daf's transparent drum kit and three small screens at the back which act as fruit machine style reels that spell out codes and symbols to signify which song we're about to hear. An electronic drone emanates from the speakers as our heroes take to the stage in Devo style white boiler suits carrying boxing ring-girl title cards bearing the words Fuzzy Logic and Side 1 and it's great to see that the Super Furries haven't lost their theatrical sense of whimsy. Gruff announces that tonight they will be playing "album one and two if that's ok?" which raises a chuckle. The fruit machine screens spin to spell out G O D and they break into God! Show Me Magic.

Whether it was the fact that the LCR's PA system could have done with being cranked up at least another 50%, or that Bill Ryder-Jones had soothed everyone to the point of nodding off, or because we are all twenty years older now and have to be up to get the kids ready for school in the morning, it's just not the explosive start you'd expect from such an energetic song. It certainly wasn't the band because they played it faultlessly, just like every other song tonight. There was just an odd atmosphere in the air. It's OK though, I think to myself, Fuzzy Birds is next, I don't remember ever seeing that live before, they'll sort the volume levels out and then hit us with the one-two punch of Something For The Weekend and Frisbee, that'll get everybody going. Except it doesn't. I scan the crowd and at most I can make out a handful of nodding heads....during Frisbee? At a Super Furry Animals gig?? What is happening???

Side 1 of Fuzzy Logic comes to a close with Hometown Unicorn, Gathering Moss and a gloriously beautiful If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You, all note perfect renditions of songs I love but they were never going to get the crowd moving. By this point I got the feeling it was starting to affect the band - Guto was stony faced as always, but Bunf wasn't smiling like he always does playing live and Gruff hadn't spoken to the crowd since the start.

A flip of a title card and Side 2 begins with the raucous Bad Behaviour, and the atmosphere picks up a bit. There're more heads nodding and a few people jumping around down the front - the band seem to be enjoying it a bit more now too. Mario Man follows next and although it's a slight drop in pace, the atmosphere doesn't falter. This is the first tour that it's made it onto the setlist and it works so well it's hard to understand why they didn't play it years ago. It carries us nicely into Hangin' With Howard Marks - I thought this might give the energy a boost, it's a fun song and with the passing of Mr Marks earlier in the year, surely everyone will get dancing at least as some kind of mark of respect, and again they don't. This is the last banger on the album, and we've got Long Gone and For Now And Ever coming up which I thought may dampen the atmosphere judging by the way tonight is going. As it turns out, Long Gone is actually brilliant, one of the best so far because the strings part is tonight played on a trumpet giving the song a mariachi band feel. For Now And Ever should be a euphoric singalong to mark the end of the first album but it passes by with nary a mumble from the crowd. as the first line of that song states, it's been a funny kind of day.

During a brief interval where we are encouraged by another cue card to 'Applaud For Howard' (finally the tribute he deserves, even if we had to be explicitly told to do it), I realise how hypocritical my thoughts have been. By standing at the side, watching the crowd and analysing how the gig is playing out, I'm technically part of the problem. I make the decision to get down the front for the rest of the night because A. Radiator is if not my favourite album of all time, at least in my top three, and B. I want to let the band know that they are playing brilliantly by getting down there and dancing, not that I'm claiming to be a catalyst for the crowd or some kind of pied piper of dance or anything..I just feel a weird responsibility to give some kind of positive feedback to the band.

Spurred on by the enforced extended applause for Howard, Radiator kicks off with far more energy - the pace of The Placid Casual and The International Language Of Screaming lifts everyone's spirits including the band. Gruff is animated and Bunf is smiling finally, despite dripping with sweat. Guto still looks like an Easter Island statue though, god love him. The gig is far more enjoyable from down here - there are a hardcore few at the front punching the air, and their enthusiasm is infectious as they sing along to Demons and She's Got Spies. Gruff plays his traditional vertical guitar solo on Play It Cool (I'd forgotten he did that, that was nice to see again!), Hermann Loves Pauline has a weird vocal effect on the verses which is slightly odd and muffles Gruff's voice for most of the song, but who cares? I'm finally having fun! By the time we get to Chupacabras I'm singing and punching the air too. This, this right here, is what a Super Furry Animals gig is all about - it took a while but we finally got there. The band are more comfortable now and it's at this point that they interact with the crowd the most, mainly to apologise for not bringing any scissors with them for Torra Fy Ngwallt Yn Hir (check out the translated lyrics, you won't be disappointed) and appeal to the audience for help, before changing their mind and giving up on asking a crowd for sharpened objects as a rather foolish idea.

As we move into the more downbeat ending to Radiator, there is enough goodwill and passion to see us through. Bass Tuned To D.E.A.D (another great performance of a track that's not been played live before) and Down A Different River become singalong anthems as friends embrace in the crowd. Then strangest of all, Download, the most delicate song off either album becomes the surprise highlight of the night. The beautiful simplicity of Gruff's voice and Cian's piano and backing vocals is truly mesmerising, building to a crescendo as the rest of the group join in. The stage is bathed in blue light for the entire song with two rainbow lasers cutting through it. This one song is right up there with the best performances by this band in my last twenty years of seeing them. I was so moved that as it ended I wrapped my arm around my mate and held my other arm aloft as we bellowed our way through Mountain People.

The night comes to a close with the always brilliant The Man Don't Give A Fuck, and a mosh pit breaks out finally. Mid song they all change into their well worn yeti outfits, which must stink by now as they look pretty matted and tough to clean. They play a straight up version of the single which means that Cian doesn't get to cut loose on a crazy techno tangent, which is a shame as the crowd have just got going. It would have been a fitting end to a strange night to see everybody raving and throwing shapes whilst the band freak out dressed as yetis onstage.
As the set comes to a close and the band leave the stage, Gruff and Bunf hang back holding a title card aloft with the words The End on it. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but they stand there waving to us for just a few seconds longer than I want them to and it feels like this is a goodbye. I really hope it isn't because as good as all their solo projects are, when they are together this band are totally unique and unbeatable.

So it's been a funny old night. Bill Ryder-Jones and Super Furry Animals have given us exactly what they said they were going to and did it note perfect, but the atmosphere just didn't get going until way too late in the show. Maybe this serves to show why live setlists exist and bands don't just play their albums in order - the flow of the tracks needs to be totally different when you hear them live. Although I can't help but wonder what it would have been like if Goldie Lookin' Chain had been the support act, kicking the night off with a jolt of energy that the Furries could have continued. But most importantly I learned that if you want to enjoy something you need to get in there and get involved, standing back and waiting for something to entertain you isn't the way.

What's that line from Demons? Oh yeah....apathy only ruined me.

Photos by Andi Sapey..check out the rest of the gallery here