Super Furry Animals - New York Irving Plaza - 4/10/03
4/5
By: Joshua K
Set-List: 'Slow Life', 'Rings Around The World', 'Golden Retriever', 'Hello Sunshine', 'Run Christian Run', 'The Piccolo Snare', 'Juxtaposed With U', 'Receptacle For The Respectable', 'Out of Control', 'Calimero', 'The Man Don't Give A F**k'.
Super Furry Animals really are from another planet. After all, only in their special world could it make sense to begin a gig in helmets, end it an hour later dressed as Yetis, and pack the middle with '60s pop, country, punk, techno-breaks and aggressively anti-American sentiments.
Why do we embrace these indulgences? Because the band are in (inter)stellar form on this, the final night of their brief US tour, playing a tight set focused around the most recent albums ('Phantom Power' and 'Rings Around The World').
Among the early standouts is a fuzzed-out 'Golden Retriever', which gets the capacity crowd dancing and cheering. And not just the E'd out punter upfront, who comedically maintains the same 140bpm tempo right through the breezy country rock of 'Run Christian Run'.
Meanwhile, sandwiched between 'Christian' and the lusciously poppy 'Juxtaposed With U' is one of the night's three in-your-face political statements: 'The Piccolo Snare'. SFA expertly recreate the track's Beach Boys harmonies against the powerful multimedia backdrop of cartoon bombers, whose payload turns into swords and then graveyard crosses as they touch down.
After a trip through the spacey jam and happy acid images of 'Receptacle For The Respectable' comes moment #2: the equally confrontational, while sonically harder-edged, 'Out Of Control'. In case the point isn't clear, this concise stomp is set to infrared images of military attack.
Finally, here comes Steely Dan-quoting fan favorite 'The Man Don't Give A F**k' and is it ever blinding. Starting with images of President George W. Bush and other demagogues juxtaposed with the text 'All Governments Are Liars', the song builds over ten minutes from a slow strum to a roiling, boiling beats explosion. During this time, Gruff Rhys and crew disappear, soon returning to finish the song and gig in their hairy Big Foot costumes - for no apparent reason other than they can.
But that's reason enough. Long may 'Furryvision' reign.
Artists in this article: Super Furry Animals
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