mclusky*
18th January 2020
The Tuning Fork, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Andre Fleming. Photography by Isaac Fleming.
I will be the first to admit that the original formation of mclusky was a bit before my time, their heyday during the late nineties and early two thousand’s not quite registering on my radar. But that is the beauty of music, bands can be discovered no matter when their sound was first recorded and thanks to an upbringing that saw my home continuously filled with multiple genres, my discovery of mclusky* was made.
So it was quite the surprise to hear that they were making their way down to New Zealand for their first ever appearance, the reformation of the band in 2014 as mclusky* (the asterisk a reference to missing members) originally for a charity event seeing the Welsh three piece decide to get back on the road despite no new album since 2004.
Not that that bothered me or any of the other fans who had gathered together at The Tuning Fork to welcome the three piece of Andy ‘Falco’ Falkous, Jack Egglestone and Damian Sayell of The St Pierre Snake Invasion, I for one just happy that I was even getting the chance to see them live, in my home city of all places!
If you want to get technical, their sound is deemed as ‘noise rock’ and ‘post-hardcore’; to their fans like me it is just brilliantly loud and noisy music that at times is in your face and dripping with satire. The sort of shit you can annoy your neighbours with on a Sunday afternoon. Actually, I think Falco would appreciate that sentiment.
So it was rather hilarious then that the first song they played was ‘Fuck This Band’, as probably the only real leisurely song they have in their set list it was the greatest way to begin the show, Falco delivering each and every line slowly and deliberately. With many of their tracks coming in at around the two to three minute mark, they blasted through the first half of their set pretty damn quick which was great as it kept the small but enthusiastic as fuck pit churning, the in between banter and sometimes anti-social behaviour of Falco (someone told him to talk less, he told them to shut it) only adding to that punk rock attitude that first attracted me.
‘Without MSG I Am Nothing’, ‘Rice is Nice’ and one of my absolute favourites ‘Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues’ all featured as did ‘Alan is a Cowboy Killer’ and ‘Forget About Him I’m Mint’. At one point during the night someone requested ‘Wonderwall’ and I burst out laughing when the reply came back that “Wonderwall isn’t a song, it’s an intelligence test”. I mean seriously, how can you not love these guys?
Drinks were passed up to the stage, no doubt improving the already epic dance moves of Sayell who for ‘Chases’ decided to up the ante by playing the entire track with a male fan sitting on his shoulders. Definitely not something you see at your everyday concert where even a hand placed upon the stage will often earn you a stare down from security.
How did it all end? With to ‘To Hell with Good Intentions’ of course – just like their opener it seemed the ideal way to finish the set, the crowd chanting to the words loud and proud, the band no doubt appreciating their efforts.
With Falco already involved with projects that occupy his time, who knows how long this version of mclusky* will continue to tour or if they will ever come back to Auckland; the chances of a new album unlikely according to critics…
But still, none of that matters, because they did play here, and it was all that any of us could have wished for and more.
Were you there at The Tuning Fork for this brilliant post-hardcore act? Or have you seen mclusky* perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Fuck This Band
- Dethink To Survive
- Without MSG I Am Nothing
- Collagen Rock
- What We’ve Learned
- Rice Is Nice
- 1956 And All That
- Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues
- That Man Will Not Hang
- Alan Is A Cowboy Killer
- Gareth Brown Says
- Forget About Him I’m Mint
- Falco vs. The Young Canoeist
- You Should Be Ashamed, Seamus
- She Will Only Bring You Happiness
- No Covers
- Chases
- Whoyouknow
- To Hell With Good Intentions
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