SFA OK! – The Super Furries (very much) in concert
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!http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2394/1613592506_4974c0ac35.jpg?v=0!“Sorry, Dublin, we don’t know what the fuck we’re doing.” A twenty second delay between songs and it’s panic stations for Huw “Bunf” Bunford, the legendary weirdy-beardy lead guitarist of Super Furry Animals. Well, you don’t survive fourteen years in rock without having some kind of standards. (Insert your own Bryan Adams joke here.)Judging by the crowd’s uncontrolled glee at pocket rocket openers _Baby Ate My Eightball_ and _Do or Die_, if this is the sound of cluelessness, then they want to hear more. Besides, a little tardiness is understandable. Dublin is the second date of their Ireland & UK tour, and as singer Gruff Rhys explains, “we stayed up last night writing the shortest Super Furry Animals song ever”. He and Bunf then harmonise a two-word Welsh yodel. Everyone laughs.!http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2242/1613591984_376e6e04f6.jpg?v=0!Indeed, if any rustiness shows, it’s in the pacing of the gig. The dashing new single _Run-Away_ is followed by Gruff declaring, “We’ve come to the section of our show where we cover a single in the style of Teenage Fanclub.” The band then transform their sing-along calypso hit _Northern Lites_ into a jangly guitar rocker befitting the Scottish indie legends. The crowd want the party tunes to continue but that’s the final fast one for a half hour; Gruff having suddenly announced an acoustic set “with a stool and shit”. Cue much exiting to the toilets and the bar from the blow-ins. It’s a shame because beautiful slow-burners are an SFA speciality. They played outsider anthem _Down a Different A River_ from their seminal first album Fuzzy Logic, the sweet soul of _The Gift That Keeps Giving_ from Hey Venus!, plus the haunting _Ymaelodi A’r Ymylon_, from all-Welsh album Myng (the only album Gruff mentions by name). The song that catches me unawares is Love Craft’s _Atomik Lust_. It's a menacing, hypnotic acid rock workout whose virtues had completely passed me by on record.!http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2017/1612701077_5fff845cdc.jpg?v=0!The bpm picks up drastically during the final song of the first half, _Receptacle for the Respectable_, SFA's self-described “medley” of summer-y pop and racuous electroclash. It culminates on stage in an exhilarating duelling guitar rockout. (The winner looked to be the mighty Bunf.)!http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/1613590040_0b0c587181.jpg?v=0!The band reappear in the allotted time having jettisoned their fetching brown suits, which were each embroidered with the Japanese alien artwork from Hey Venus! The second half whizzes by with a whole bunch of short, sharp songs. They feature crowd favourites _God! Show Me Magic_ and _Rings around the World_, and another hardly anybody knew, the 1999 (yet ever-so timely) b-side _Mrs Spector_. There was room, thankfully, for the stately, brooding grandeur of _If You Don’t Want Me To Destroy You_.!http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2314/1612703493_c7cf4eeff9.jpg?v=0!Gruff dons his fabled Power Ranger helmet for show-stopping anti-authoritarian anthem _The Man Don’t Give A Fuck_. It's a thrilling punch-the-air affair despite the band eschewing the usual 20 minute techno wigout. !http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2406/1634719939_bbd2d177c5.jpg?v=0!The last line of Beatles-esque closer _Keep the Cosmic Trigger Happy_ implores listeners to “keep it real”. Before leaving the stage Bunf makes sure everybody gets the message by holding up a sign with those exact words. Proof, if needed, that SFA know exactly what they’re doing.!http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2176/1613593420_7f7bea2a93.jpg?v=0!
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