I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 7, 2017] Mew [links to video shortly]

Back in 2005 or 2006, I read a review of Mew’s then new album And the Glass Handed Kites.  It was hailed as a minor masterpiece (and was also hailed as one of the worst album covers of the decade).  In addition to their complex melodies, what really won me over was singer Jonas Bjerre’s amazing soaring falsetto.

Mew is a Danish band and, remarkably, they have had the same lineup for almost their entire career (their guitarist Bo Madsen left in 2015).  So technically they are a three-piece, but live they were a five piece.

The best thing was how amazing Bjerre’s voice sounded–so much like the album, but even better.  And from the way he sang, it seemed effortless.

The band and venue were amazing and yet it was one of the less pleasant experiences I’ve had at a show.  Apparently Mew fans are all 6 foot 5.  And they are inclined to gather around the front of the stage essentially creating a six-foot barrier in front of the band.  That was bad, but what was worse was one of the die-hard fans.  I had heard a guy before  the show say that he thought there’s be 30 people at the show (there were maybe 150).  So did I. This is a pretty obscure band, and the fans are pretty intense.  So, the guy behind me sang along to every word.  Now I like this band but I don’t know every word–with Bjerre’s accent it’s not always apparent what he’s singing, anyhow.  But this guy knew every word and good for him.  But bad for the rest of us.  As I said, Bjerre’s voice is soaring and angelic.  And this guy’s was not.  Nor was it in tune.  And my was it ever loud.  At times he was just shouting (some of the vocals soar) in a way that sounded like he was just trying to drown out the band.  After he ruined my favorite song, “The Zookeeper’s Boy,” I had to leave my post in front and go further back (where more 6 foot people awaited but no one sang).

But gripes out of the way, I couldn’t get over how good the band sounded.  Bjerre’s voice was tremendous.  I also loved the low rumbling bass sound from Johan Wohlert.  He was the only guy who really talked during the show as well (the band do sing in English).  Since I was closest to him I have a lot of pictures of him.

Drummer Silas Utke Graae Jørgensen played a great complex assortment of sounds (although he was in the dark most of the time).  There were two touring members with them: Nick Watts on keyboards (who has been touring with them since 2001) was way in the back and I could barely see him.  On guitar was Mads Wegner.  He sang back up, but mostly he played the complicated and beautiful melodies.  I have a few pictures of the interesting chords he was playing, but he was way on the other side to me.

So Mew have a new album out Visuals, and they were touring it.  It is more synthy overall (with the departure of their guitarist that kind of makes sense).  Many of the songs are incredibly catchy and were even more so live.  But they didn’t only play new stuff, they sampled their entire catalog (which is 5 albums in total, although they have two earlier records that are out of print and sort of don’t count, I guess).

They opened with the new album’s really catchy “In a Better Place.”   The music sounded spot on and, as I keep saying, Bjerre’s voice was amazing.  I tolerated the guy behind me singing this song at the top of his lungs because it was the first song.  They played two songs from Kites, “Special” and “The Zookeeper’s Boy” .  When the guy tried to sing the incredibly high notes of that song and failed miserably, it nearly killed me.  After the next song, “Satellites” one of two songs from the album +/- I just had to leave [you can hear him at the end of this video].  This guy was pretty drunk and wasn’t going to stop.  He knew all the words.

So I moved back and the sound was cleaner and the only voice I could hear was Bjerres.

They played the heavy “Candy Pieces” from Visuals (with this pretty soaring part ) and then the only song from No More Stories…  the wonderfully angular and rhythmically confusing “Introducing Palace Players.”   It was followed by another angular song “Twist Quest” which features a really pretty middle section.  Since I couldn’t see the band I decided to just film their wonderfully bizarre video on the back screen.  85 Videos (with such an amazingly catchy chorus) came next .

Before this next song, Wohlert talked a little bit, telling us they were very happy to be there and that he promised he wouldn’t talk much about the next song because he didn’t want to ruin the magic.   Then he introduced “Start” from the No More Stories EP (which I didn’t know) by saying that the song was “quiet and very beautiful so please everybody listen and shut the bleep [he said bleep] up.” I couldn’t see Njerre for the first part so here’s Mads singing harmony and then Bjerre ending the song with his two spoken words.

Then one more from +/-  Water Slides before playing the amazing combination of Apocalypso which segued into Saviours of Jazz Ballet. .  They ended the set with the beautiful “Carry Me to Safety” which features some interesting guitar work.

They left for a barely a minute (the guys didn’t even take off their guitars) and then they came back out to play the fantastic “Nothingness sand No Regrets” from Visuals 

The remainder of the encore was songs from Frengers the album I just received.  It was their first album that they sold in the US and contains a couple of songs from their early albums and some then new songs too.  I was not really aware of it until recently.  But the crowd went berserk for these songs.

Back in the day, their very first big hit was “Am I Wry? No” which received amazing applause.  And when Bjerre strapped on a guitar to play 156 the applause grew even bigger.

These songs certainly rock a little harder with the two guitars.

I was sure that that was the end of the set–three encores–but they had one more surprise.  They began the 8 minute “Comforting Sounds.”

All through the night there had been weird and delightful videos playing on the screen behind them.  Some were creepy, most were cool and some were just kinda weird.  Well, for “Comforting Sounds,” the video showed puppets playing violins.  I couldn’t resist taking stills behind Wohlert and then I just gave up and took a video of it.

They left the stage giving high fives (but I wasn’t close enough) and then the lights came up.  Normally I love a show to run long (I’ve complained about short sets before).  This set was pretty short (about 85 minutes), but it felt really complete.  Plus, if you’re going to have a short set, then do like Mew, start the show early (8 PM) so that the show is over by 10:30 and I can get home at a reasonable hour. Which I did.  So thanks guys.

I don’t know if they stayed to sign things (I assumed they would but who knows).  But as I was leaving I saw the setlist on the stage and snapped a photo: