{"id":2283329,"date":"2026-02-15T22:25:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T22:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2283329"},"modified":"2026-02-15T22:25:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T22:25:52","slug":"gig-review-mogwai-forest-swords-aberdeen-music-hall-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/gig-review-mogwai-forest-swords-aberdeen-music-hall-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Gig review: Mogwai \/ Forest Swords – Aberdeen Music Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Just over a year since Mogwai released their critically-acclaimed latest album \u2018The Bad Fire\u2019, the band have headed north to a surprisingly sunny Aberdeen to blow away not only the clouds but to blow both minds and ears. <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Before the band take the stage at the historic Music Hall on Union Street, it\u2019s down to Forest Swords to warm up the Friday night crowd. <\/p>\n

Hidden in near darkness with only swirling spotlights behind him, producer Matthew Edward Barnes hunches behind a laptop and mixers on a table and produces beautiful, hypnotic sounds. <\/p>\n

\"Forest<\/a><\/p>\n

The set starts at a glacial pace before giving way to dubby beats and disembodied sounds that are enigmatic and mysterious. <\/p>\n

The minimal lighting adds to the atmosphere as Barnes guides us on an ambient journey with songs such as \u2018Tar\u2019, \u2018Gathering\u2019, \u2018Crow\u2019 and \u2018Caged\u2019.<\/p>\n

A lovely hypnotic chilled out start to the evening. <\/p>\n

\"Mogwai<\/a><\/p>\n

Taking the stage, Mogwai are greeted by a massive cheer from a packed Music Hall as they go straight into two songs from their latest album \u2013 \u2018God Gets You Back\u2019 and \u2018Hi Chaos\u2019. <\/p>\n

Between-song banter is minimal \u2013 the odd \u2018thank you\u2019 from guitarist Stuart Braithwaite is all that\u2019s really said. Vocals are also minimal \u2013 only a few tracks have them and they\u2019re mostly masked by vocoders and effects that create an other-worldly, almost hauntological feel. <\/p>\n

\"Mogwai<\/a><\/p>\n

As the band power through the main set in an hour you feel lost in the sound, carried along in a meandering river of noise, lost to the outside world, oblivious to those around you. <\/p>\n

The main set is quite different to the night before in Paisley \u2013 well-known songs such as \u2018Mogwai Fear Satan\u2019 and \u2018Hunted By A Freak\u2019 have been rotated out and tracks such as \u2018Friend Of The Night\u2019 and \u2018Every Country\u2019s Sun\u2019 played in their place. <\/p>\n\n\n
\"Mogwai<\/a><\/td>\n\"Mogwai<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

This adds to the occasion and brings an element of surprise \u2013 you have no idea what\u2019s coming next or where the setlist will head. It\u2019s a commendable and brave approach that more headlining bands should embrace. <\/p>\n

Tracks played also cover all eras of the band \u2013 from \u2018Summer\u2019, recorded three decades ago to the recent \u2018Lion Rumpus\u2019 via songs such as \u2018Rano Pano\u2019, \u2018We\u2019re No Here\u2019 and \u2018Ritchie Sacramento\u2019. <\/p>\n

The best, however, is saved till last \u2013 the mighty \u2018Like Herod\u2019 closes the half hour encore in climatic fashion. <\/p>\n

\"Mogwai<\/a><\/p>\n

Veering from almost nursery rhyme innocence and quiet, the loud part still hit you with a gut-wrenching surprise that almost floors you with power and ferocity. It\u2019s an amazing, cathartic, feeling of joy. <\/p>\n

Thirty years in, Mogwai still feel as new and as exciting as they did in the early days and remain one of Scotland\u2019s finest ever bands. They\u2019ll be back on Scottish soil in the summer, supporting The Cure in Edinburgh, where I fully expect another glorious performance.<\/p>\n

\"Mogwai<\/a><\/p>\n

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Latest posts by Craig Chisholm (see all<\/a>)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.isthismusic.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just over a year since Mogwai released their critically-acclaimed latest album \u2018The Bad Fire\u2019, the band have headed north to a surprisingly sunny Aberdeen to blow away not only the clouds but to blow both minds and ears. Before the band take the stage at the historic Music Hall on Union Street, it\u2019s down to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2283330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2283329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Gig-review-Mogwai-Forest-Swords-Aberdeen-Music-Hall.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2283332,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283329\/revisions\/2283332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2283330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}