As someone who has never seen Mogwai live before but who is familiar with their records, my desire to see the band performing in person has certainly increased after listening to Special Moves. In the flesh Mogwai must appear to be absolute legends in their field, and it’s clear in this live performance why: they know how to perform to their respective audience remarkably well. Between every track you can hear the clapping and support of the audience members, although to avoid interfering with the music on display the vocal enthusiasm of those within the crowd is kept to a pleasurable minimum throughout the set.
Mogwai take the liberty of introducing themselves after the third track, “Hunted by a Freak” from their 2003 album, Happy Songs for Happy People. They seem humble as they address the crowd, flowing from one song to the next without dwelling too long with formalities. It’s nice that the band would take the time to approach their crowd, yet retain the distance that their music demands. “Hunted by a Freak” is not the only song from their 2003 release, either; the track listing is incredibly varied and certainly guaranteed to entertain fans from across their entire catalogue. They touch on tracks spanning their complete career, leaving no album without at least one performance. They go back and visit early behemoths such as “Like Herod” and “Mogwai Fear Satan,” whilst opening the set with “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead” from their 2008 release, The Hawk is Howling.
Perhaps the only unusual thing is that Mogwai don’t spent longer with their latest release, performing only two songs from The Hawk is Howling. Their choice of spanning their entire career on Special Moves acts as both a blessing and something of a curse – on the one hand, the performance gives a good insight into Mogwai’s musical development; on the other, the track-list perhaps lacks continuity by treading a lot of ground in such a relatively short period of time. It’s testament to the similarity of post-rock that songs from their early recording sessions gel consistently with later material.
Mogwai invite a wide variety of moods in their music. On “Cody” there is a longing passion, featuring the only vocal performance by Mogwai on this release. They capture the mood perfectly: sentimental vocals and a far gentler mood to their distinct sound. It’s good to hear that Mogwai can flow from this kind of balladry into fiercer tracks such as “You Don’t Know Jesus” without losing the ambience of their performance. Special Moves acts as something of a ‘best of’ for Mogwai; a performance that captures the band at their musical best whilst chronicling the beginning of their career to their latest effort. By the time the final guitar blaze of “Glasgow Mega-Snake” fades into the ether, the crowd of dedicated fans are allowed the final say: celebrating Mogwai with cheers and clapping, and rightly so.
