Scottish post-rock monarchs Mogwai bring their epic live show back to Australia for the first time in six years. Unleashing their colossal sound in all its beauty and fury, the tour will feature Mogwai’s UK 2021 number one record As The Love Continues, as well as classic Mogwai tracks from their innovative career.
Wednesday 21 February 2024 | The Tivoli, Brisbane
Friday 23 February 2024 | TBA, Hobart
Sunday 25 February 2024 | Hindley St Music Hall, Adelaide
Tuesday 27 February 2024 | Enmore Theatre, Sydney
VIC/WA shows to be added
One of the best loved and most ground-breaking post-rock bands of the past three decades, Mogwai’s psychedelic adventures on the furthest frontiers of noise have earned them a reputation as vast as their thunderous music. Though they may be placed in the “file under post rock” corner, As The Love Continues shows that they get broader and broader in their vision.
Like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and PJ Harvey, Mogwai remain a band whose favourite album continues to be their latest one. Ten records in and still no disappointments or mistaken creative left turns.
You may know what to expect from Mogwai, but you will never get the same. Mogwai are still offering solace from the mundane. They remain a transcendent soundtrack to whatever movie you are making in your head.
The band has also created many acclaimed films and television soundtracks, most recently the Apple TV+ show Black Bird. Mogwai founder Stuart Braithwaite recently published his acclaimed autobiography, Spaceships Over Glasgow: Mogwai and Misspent Youth.
As Braithwaite recalls: “We heard the first Arab Strap album and thought, ‘fucking hell we can’t mess about’” and 25 years later, Mogwai still aren’t messing about.
Everything stays and everything passes, but our fate is to pass. The Mogwai way is to stay. As the title of one of their albums said, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will – where it says “Hardcore”, read “Mogwai”.
The Mogwai formula (surfing a wave of instrumental intensity, not to go into too much detail) not only holds out, but still causes small earthquakes: their latest album, As The Love Continues reached number one in the British charts to everyone’s surprise, including theirs. Because although the Scots have modulated their proposal towards (ahem) pop, whilst avoiding falling into the noise for the sake of noise trap (now there are also voices, synthesisers, harmonic games on the menu…) they have not now, suddenly, become radio friendly.
Quite simply, the rock sphere has spun, spun and spun and, in the end, it has come to the realisation that Mogwai were not just on the axis, they were the axis.