Art Brut @ Garage - January 17, 2019

My first show at Garage, but a nice little space, which I'm pleased about as I already have another gig lined up there.

Found out Art Brut were doing 2 shows in London before and after Xmas, unfortunately after they had both sold out. Twickets to the rescue where I bought 2 tickets, hoping to sell the other. I was going to go solo, but a fellow Solo Armada member was interested in the ticket and ended up being an enjoyable companion for the music intervals.

We met at doors opening and were some of the first to enter the cold room. A couple of hours earlier I was amused by tweets from Eddie Argos scolding anyone who wasn't going to arrive early for the openers. He was chatting with some friends at the merch stall and stayed out front to hear the first band, practicing what he preached, and standing directly in front of us.

Fightmilk were first up. A four member band with two guitars, one being female who doubled as lead singer. She had good stage presence and her between-song banter was amusing. Having checked out both openers beforehand, I recognized a couple of songs, but it was their energy that I appreciated more than the actual songs, although Your Girlfriend was pleasing in a Weezeresque way.

Gaffa Tape Sandy were fairly similar to Fightmilk, except they had three members, the female member was on bass and the two guitarists split vocal duties. While their stage banter wasn't great, it wasn't bad, but their energy was really great and some of their songs are really growing on me, particularly Water Bottle and Beehive.

Eddie Argos bounded onto the stage after the other band members had taken their places, and it's indisputable that he is the focal point of Art Brut. I believe only the guitarist, Ian Catskilkin, is an original member, with the drummer, apparently being brand new.

 They opened with Hooray! from their new album, Wham! Bam! Pow! Let's Rock Out! Argos then led into My Little Brother with some banter about the song being written when his little brother was 22, and how at 36, with a condo and a job and a nice car, that their mother is no longer more worried about her youngest son. This was followed up by a hilarious lengthy ramble (almost the sprechgesang of his song delivery) about his Mum telling him that shouty bands are now in fashion, like Sleaford Mods and Idles and Shame, and isn't that great.

Argos introduced Axl Rose by telling us that his two favourite singers are Morrissey and Axl Rose and isn't it unbelievable which one turned out to be the liberal and which the right-wing fascist.  The back-to-back "hit" songs played next were the closest they can get to saying they are going to play one of their hits, he joked. Then Hospital! and Alcoholics Unanimous were presented as 'effect' and 'cause'.

The increasingly energetic set with attendant high leg kicks focused mainly on their amazing debut and their newest release with only one or two songs from their three middle albums. Requests were screamed out, and Argos responded several times that they don't play Modern Art anymore, but the crowd kept trying. Delivering Emily Kane slightly before they left the stage for the first time certainly placated their fans and the mosh pit finally started to get a bit animated.

After a brief absence while the crowd chanted "Art Brut: Top of the Pops", the encore kicked off in similarly energetic fashion with Formed a Band. By the time Art Brut left the stage, most of the crowd seemed sweaty and satisfied. But they quickly reemerged and we were treated to a monster encore of Modern Art with a very extended stream-of-consciousness tale of visiting an art gallery as Argos waded into the very middle of the crowd. He got almost everyone to sit down on their haunches with him at the eye of a huge circle of fans, as he asked us to envision our favourite work of art, before at last releasing us to jump up to the repeated chorus "Modern Art! Makes Me! Want to Rock Out!"

Argos's showmanship is terribly entertaining and winning and I've only seen an encore bettered by Nick Cave at All Points East. And that's some high praise by association.

Setlist:
Hooray!
My Little Brother
Axl Rose
She Kissed Me (And It Felt Like a Hit)
Direct Hit
Hospital!
Alcoholics Unanimous
Too Clever
Arizona Bay
Emily Kane
Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out!
Encore:
Formed a Band
Kultfigur
Bad Weekend / Demons Out!
Post Soothing Out
2nd Encore:
Modern Art