09 June 2018 (gig)
14 June 2018
There's a couple of thousand people here tonight, all gathered to see Ty Segall, all probably wishing for a completely different setlist to the person stood next to them.
Ty's output is scaringly prolific. He's put out ten full length albums in the space of as many years (not to mention multiple side projects), and he's still only 30, including a couple of double albums, the most recent being 2018's excitingly diverse and eclectic Freedom's Goblin. The record dips into good old indie rock, acoustic, metal, funk, psych and disco to mention but a few styles and genres. The excited crowd here tonight can hardly wait to see what Ty Segall and the Freedom Band will offer. The hot humid air in this packed out venue only serves to intensify the atmosphere (and keep people buying beer at hugely inflated prices....)
Ty and the band come on stage and launch into Wave Goodbye from 2012's Ty Segall Band's Slaughterhouse album. The dirty fuzzy Sabbathesque beast of a track makes a statement of intent as Ty sings, shouts and screams over some gargantuan riffs.
Live favourite, Finger takes on a lot more meat on the bones live than it's vinyl counterpart and the mosh pit is large and frenzied even before Freedom's Goblin opener Fanny Dog get's the whole crowd singing along.
Compared to Ty's fairly polished Psychedlic masterpiece of an LP, Manipulator, the follow up, 2016's Emotional Mugger was a much more uncomfortable, more inaccessible listen, but given the live treatment tonight songs from it come into their own. Squealer, Breakfast Eggs and Candy Sam go down a treat early on in the set before a massive switch of style. Recent single Every 1's a Winner (Yes, a cover of the Hot Chocolate classic!) is indeed a winner. This fascinating oddity of a cover version is followed swiftly by one of Freedom Goblin's most genre twisting tracks. The dirty funky disco gem Despoiler of Cadaver seems adored by some and leaves others puzzled. Ty Loves it.
As opposed to most front men, Ty doesn't front the band at centre stage, Instead as we stare up at him he stands as far on the right hand side as he can get. Instead of facing the crowd (he barely makes eye contact all night) he stands side on and faces his band. I'm guessing partly it's a confidence thing, and partly as he seems at times to almost act like a conductor to his band. Several songs turn into sprawling complex jams that take a lot of concentration and communication between these musicians tonight, and these guys are tight. None more so than on the epic Warm Hands, a magnificent multi layered riff fest of a tune that sends the mosh pit into overdrive.
My Lady's on Fire is unashamedly Bolan and beautiful with it. Goodbye Bread also slows the pace down and show's Ty's softer, melodic side.
After picking up the pace again with the solid heavy rock of Alta, and I think, possibly Caesar (it was all a bit hot, heady and hectic by this point), Ty and the Freedom Band go gloriously Jefferson Airplane with latest album closer And, Goodnight, a re-working of the the title track from 2013's Sleeper album. This epic, sprawling album and set closer must have gone on for 15 minutes before the band leave the stage and leave us shouting for more.
They return and give us two more, not sure of the first encore ( he just has so many songs in his back catalogue!) but the last song of the night was the perfectly chosen She. This monster tune takes everything that was good about British 70's and 80's hard rock and metal, crushes it down and spits it out with a heavy driving riff that pushes it along into it's single repeated lyric "She, she, she said, I was a bad boy"
Ty Segall and whichever bunch of talented musicians he's currently touring with are a must see for any live music enthusiast. The energy, passion, and sheer enjoyment that this man and his band displayed tonight ensured there was no chance of anybody trying to or even wanting to go through the motions. The fact that he can enthral and satisfy an audience without playing a single track from Manipulator, his most commercially successful (double) album speaks volumes.
If you missed this tour, don't worry, the guy is a machine and will probably have another album to tour before 12 months is out.
