More about: black midi

Progressive-rock trio Black Midi take to Somerset house for their largest gig to date with support from nonchalant experimental ensemble Caroline. 

The scorching burn of the sun has slowly tamed, and the sky is calming to a blush colour. What looks like gigantic inflatable balls of steel are prompted on stage, amongst mustard yellow fog, and the sound of extremely pretentious opera. 

Opening with an intense guitar solo, drummer Morgan Simpson flings his sticks into the air followed by a very nifty catch and just like that Black Midi catapult into ‘953.’ The introductory track off their debut album, ‘953,’ is a pulsating opener, and eagerly wakes up their crowd. With Caroline having set a calming prefix for Black Midi fans, it’s fair to say we were all charged up for what was next to come. 

Summoning a mosh pit straight from the get-go, this opener beckons fans straight to the front. Frontman and lead guitarist Geordie Greep’s vocals are just as potent as on record, and the bands instrumental accuracy and chemistry between one and other is on an extreme level of impressive. Spitting into ‘Speedway,’ with flirtatious pink stage lights and edging guitar work, the boastful pace of this track feels so much more exhilarating than usual, but it’s no problem at all, because we’re all having a great time. 

T-shirts swinging, beers flinging, cowboy hats, and unofficial merch as seen by an old gent in a, ‘Black Midi, New Road’ T (honestly, where do I get one?!) Jiving into, ‘Welcome to Hell’ (the lead single release of their brand-new album Hellfire), accompanying vocalist and guitarist Cameron Picton aims his guitar, and fakes shots at the audience, hopping side to side. Whilst their keyboardist delivers spell-binding technique. Just three tracks in and Black Midi have given us one hell of a performance.

At this point the sky is a paid actor, the sun is just about beaming, the stage lights are blinding and the audience, surprisingly, not insufferable?! Throughout this set Black Midi have proved their ungodly talent in just a handful of gestures. Turning it up a notch, and best described in their introductory voice-over as – “The reigning, the defending, and the undefeated and the undisputed…” single, ‘The Race is About to Begin.’ To put it plainly, this song, is quite literally, fucking insane. The neck-break speed of these riffs, the theatrics of each verse, and the mind-boggling pace of Geordie’s spoken word is unbelievable. The complete uproar that followed this track was incredible, a grandiose show to say the least.

“Sing along,” Geordie instructs, as Black Midi fall into a cover of Kate Bush, ‘Wuthering Heights,’ iconic if you ask me. With, ‘Running Up That Hill,’ being completely rinsed across all social media, it was super refreshing to hear a band cover a different quintessential Kate Bush bop, their rendition was very wonderful. 

After the ramping excitement of ‘John L,’ coming to an end, Black Midi spin into a mash-up of Odd Future’s, ‘Yonkers,’ and into Rage Against the Machine, ‘Killing in the Name,’ – we love to see it. The gasp from the audience was mammoth, throughout this entire set the hype was on a whole other level from start to finish. I don’t think a single fan would’ve left that show without a great big beaming smile on their face, and an excessive amount of energy left in them. 

‘Slowly,’ closes the night with courageous shrieks from Picton, obliterating stage lights vigorously bounce from the ceiling and into every crescent on stage. The band are annihilating every single note they have left to play. It's fair to say this show was really one to remember, playing their largest stage ever, with an audience of thousands of blood thirsty fans. Black Midi put on a show of a lifetime, and for fans like me, who were experiencing Black Midi live for the first time that night, I think I can speak for a lot of people, when I say just how insane of an experience this was. The bar was set so incredibly high, and I shall settle for absolutely no less. A very great show, led by a very great band.

See photos from Rachel Lipsitz below:

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More about: black midi