Photo: Press
As the three members of Jagwar Ma swaggered on stage last night at London's Village Underground, with singer Gabriel Winterfield sporting a tartan shirt tied round his waist, there was an instant feeling of nostalgia towards the 90s.
Their music has always contained plenty of homages to the beat-inflected indie rock of the Madchester scene and its derivatives - but with the return of The Stone Roses, new material from Richard Ashcroft and a new Kula Shaker album this year- this Jagwar Ma gig felt all the more timely.
Opening track 'Man I Need', taken from their 2013 debut album Howlin', has all the bombast and jaunty Big-Beat euphoria of U2's 90s album Pop or oft-forgotten band Radiator, and the references to the baggiest of decades continued throughout the gig.
Jagwar's talent for swirling, looping, psychedelic Chemical Brothers-esque wig outs, which are frequent on their debut album, is represented in a live setting well this evening, and complimented by mesmerising graphics on a projector behind them and relentless, flashing strobes. The venue's sound system is also given a good seeing-to as the pounding kick drums keep things moving throughout the night.
'Come Save Me', a live favourite, was a highlight as ever, prompting a mini rave at the front of the crowd, and their final number, their 'hit' 'The Throw', was nothing short of triumphant. Newer material, as yet unreleased tracks from their forthcoming second album, tended to float more toward the tuneless than the best tracks from Howlin', but hopefully by the time the new LP comes around they'll sound as effortlessly melodic, sun-drenched and spellbinding as their best work.
The gig ended with a bellow from Winterfield: "See you next time, and hopefully with a new album!" Whatever the hold up has been with their new album - we wait with baited breath.
Man I Need
Exercise
Uncertainty
Loose Ends
O B 1
Come Save Me
Four
Ordinary
--
Let Her Go
(What Love)
The Throw
