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Mogwai takes some of the sting out of missing Coachella

April 11, at Hard Rock Live

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Veteran post-rock outfit Mogwai played Hard Rock Live Friday night before their Saturday set at Coachella.
Spencer Burton
Chris Bitonti

In what has become an annual tradition, those of us unable to make it to Coachella eagerly await announcements from Vegas venues as to which of the giant music festival’s scraps they’ll throw at us like dogs in a medieval dining hall. One of this year’s sweetest spillovers has to be Scottish post-rock outfit Mogwai.

The veteran quintet kicked off their North American tour in Las Vegas Friday night to a spirited Hard Rock Live audience. The mostly instrumental band has always succeeded at spanning genres, from progressive to electronic to jam and straight-forward rock, and once onstage, Mogwai’s performance had a weighted feeling of significance that bordered on theatrical. No detail was too small to affect the overall experience. In fact, the musicians interacted with their tech so frequently, he might as well have been the band’s sixth member. The sound was crisp and clear, at times both noisy and pure.

Mogwai rarely deploys sudden sonic shifts, instead escalating songs to a gradual climax. Their music poured off the stage so fluidly, some swayed, some banged their head, others danced along. I closed my eyes and let their music wash over me, allowing it to take a lot of the sting out of missing the Coachella festivities.

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