Every now and again a support band turns out to be far more than a warm-up act.
Emma and I first saw bdrmm when they opened for Ride and were immediately impressed. Their combination of shoegaze textures, dreamy melodies and walls of guitar noise made a lasting impression, and before long I found myself listening to their debut album on a regular basis. In fact, I liked it so much that I bought Emma a copy for Christmas or her birthday. Officially it was a gift for her. Unofficially it was so I could play it in the car whenever I wanted.
Thankfully, she seemed quite happy with the arrangement.
Our appreciation for the band only grew when they appeared as support for Mogwai at the Barrowland. My son and I attended that gig and came away convinced that both bands had probably done permanent damage to our hearing. The ringing in our ears afterwards certainly suggested as much. Even so, it only reinforced my belief that bdrmm were a band worth following closely.
So when the opportunity came to see them headline their own show, there was never much doubt that Emma and I would be there.
This time there was no hanging around at the back. We secured a position right on the front row and prepared ourselves for what can only be described as a full-scale sonic assault. By this stage the band were touring their second album, and rather than cherry-picking a few tracks, they performed the entire record from start to finish before throwing in a couple of older favourites for good measure.
It was an inspired decision.
One of the pleasures of seeing an album played in sequence is hearing it unfold as the artist intended. Songs that might seem understated in isolation suddenly make perfect sense within the broader context of the record. The performance highlighted just how strong the material was and confirmed that bdrmm were developing into something far more substantial than simply another promising shoegaze band.
Of course, subtle appreciation soon gave way to overwhelming volume.
The closer you stand to the front at a bdrmm concert, the more physical the experience becomes. The guitars don’t merely fill the room; they seem to pass directly through you. Layers of sound collide, merge and expand until the distinction between music and atmosphere becomes almost impossible to separate. It was magnificent.
It was also extremely loud.
By the end of the evening, my ears were once again sending urgent messages to my brain suggesting that perhaps I should reconsider some of my life choices. Unfortunately, decades of concert-going have taught me to interpret those warnings as a sign that I’ve probably had a good night.
Looking back, this felt like one of those gigs where you catch a band moving confidently from promising newcomers to something much more significant. Emma and I had enjoyed them supporting Ride, loved seeing them with Mogwai and now found ourselves standing in the front row of their own headline show wondering why more people weren’t talking about them.
The answer probably won’t remain that way for long.
The videos and photographs below capture some of an evening that left us thoroughly entertained and slightly deaf. As always, the best gigs often do.
The Photos
Cheers!
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