Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - 02 Academy, Bristol, Tuesday 27th August

It’s been an eventful 3 years for San Francisco gloom-rock trio BRMC since they last brought their dry ice fuelled glorious scuzzy wall of sound to Bristol.  A band so loud that one of their gigs was cancelled due to fears that the floor would collapse has had to overcome the backstage death of sound engineer/father of bassist Robert Levon Been as well as a curious combination of commercial decline yet critical and creative rejuvenation.  Often typecast as difficult and painfully introverted the band has rebutted lucrative corporate endorsements and stone-walled interviewers throughout their 15 year career.  Live though they’re a committed and powerful force as they mix up a two hour set of fuzzy garage rock, black-hearted blues and beer-spraying apocalyptic punk.  The opening half hour is a breakneck rock assault which can’t possibly be maintained.  From the moody funk of ‘Hate The Taste’ through neon-acoustic piledriver ‘Beat The Devil’s Tattoo’ the crowd fervently jostle and a vociferous pit forms. 

 

Guitarist Pete Hayes, all sideburns and oily hair looks like a bad-ass biker on the right sharing vocal duties between lighting up.  Early track ‘Ain’t No Easy Way’ has him at his snarling best on a retro barnstormer that would sit well on a Young Guns soundtrack.  Alongside him Robert Levon Been with Morrissey coiffeur and black leather jacket strums a battered hollow bass giving the band their trademark aggressive bone-shakingly distorted boom sound; later track ‘Stop’ proving his best moment as the place goes berserk.  What follows though is a lengthy mid-set lull as ill-advised acoustic turns from Robert then Pete are drowned out by audience chatter.  ‘Lullaby’ seems to take an age to get going due to perfectionist loop pedal tinkering but they pull it off in what is the closest to a heartfelt ballad as BRMC offer.

‘Specter At The Feast,’ their seventh studio album was a largely cathartic project for Been and his father’s biggest hit whilst with The Call; ‘Let The Day Begin’ is a suitably raucous but poignant cover that is widely appreciated.  Also on new brooding ethereal anthem ‘Returning’ Been again pays tribute as the event still clearly weighs heavy on his mind “I will follow you till we all return, till we know our souls survived.”  Behind the noisy boys ex-Raveonettes and relatively newbie drummer Leah Shapiro keeps a steady beat impressing in particular on the ferocious ‘Rival’ with some military spattering and handy fills. 

Thunderous anthems ‘Whatever Happened To My Rock And Roll’ and ‘Spread Your Love’ incite some cheeky crowdsurfing much to the anger of heavy-handed security bulldogs who quickly bundle them out.  Ending with ‘Sell It’ we’re reminded of what the band does best.  It’s dark, dirty and bordering on evil in places as blood-curdling bass and wild early Verve guitar thrashing make it a moody enjoyable mess with Hayes screaming “Get it, I got it on the run, sell it.”  Its top stuff and a ballsy way to end for an overlooked rock band still going strong where their peers have long since burned out.

Kindly published by Venue:
http://www.venue.co.uk/music-live-reviews-b/21035-black-rebel-motorcycle-club

Best Track: Click On Link Below
BRMC - 'Stop'

Setlist:

1. Hate The Taste
2. Beat The Devil's Tattoo
3. Let The Day Begin
4. Rival
5. Ain't No Easy Way
6. Berlin
7. Screaming Gun
8. Returning
9. Conscience Killer
10. Shade Of Blue
11. Weight Of The World
12. Stop
13. Funny Games
14. The Line (Robert acoustic)
15. Some Kind Of Ghost (Peter acoustic)
16. Fire Walker
17. Lullaby
18. Whatever Happened To My Rock & Roll
19. Spread Your Love
20. Six Barrel Shotgun
21. Sell It

Albums available here: