Not Many Experts

Damn. Miike Snow are making the lives of the many lazy/talentless/lazy & talentless journos painfully easy. Their insistence on wearing white masks during the performance bears, of course, little relevance to the noises that Miike Snow will joyously suffuse their audience in during their (far too short) hour–long set. That said, a worryingly large number of reviews are centred around stomach-burstingly hilarious one liners, sometimes originally suggesting that Miike Snow are “fucking ugly” (haw haw haw) or merely laughing at their “faux Daft Punk-ism” (couldn’t be further from the truth). Let’s just get over it.

The reality is that, masks or not, Miike Snow couldn’t be more in touch with their audience. When I say “in touch” I don’t mean some journalistic bullshit that is invented to critique bands, but that their physical presence and music is watched or appalling danced to by a completely rapt audience. Again, live reviews often centre around how good a band’s “stage banter” is, and yet Miike Snow don’t say a single word onstage, save for a muffled “thank you” that might occasionally escape from beneath lead vocalist Andrew Wyatt’s mane of hair. All I can do is thank them for it. If I had wanted to see grown men skip gaily across the stage and collapse the entire audience into uncontrollable laughter, I would have gone to see Michael McIntyre, cheers. If Miike Snow’s silence tonight shows anything, it’s simply how absorbed by their own music they are.

A bold move for most bands might constitute playing around with one of their less appreciated album tracks, but Miike Snow are intent that those faithful many who have turned out to pack out the Liverpool Masque on a sub zero Tuesday night will not hear a band turn up, play their album, and leave. As a result, not only is crowd favourite “Cult Logic” stripped to pieces, built up and stretched out into their epic opener, but many other tracks receive the same treatment, not least the pulsating “Animal”, which only hit #98 on the UK singles chart, yet is received like it kept Jedward off the top spot for an entire month.

Although jibing Daft Punk comparisons may seem strangely founded if you had seen the girl in front of me who seemed near to climaxing throughout most of the gig, and equally intent on swinging around her inexplicably enormous handbag, Miike Snow regularly manage to lower the pulse of their live set, without losing momentum or interest. In fact, the introspective “Sans Soleil” was the undisputed highlight of their set. If I had been nearer the back, a tear would have been shed (keep it on the QT, mind).

Ultimately, coupled with the fact that they were preceded by the intriguing Run Toto Run (who I have been monitoring for a while, so now would seem the perfect opportunity to finally mention them), Miike Snow have mastered the rarely perfected art of playing a proper live gig, not simply playing your songs in a live setting. Those who were there will know exactly why it’s hard to stop me enthusing about their live set, and those who weren’t there need to go and experience it first-hand. Just don’t laugh at their masks.

Run Toto Run – Catchy My Breath

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