It's a packed house this evening at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds' Hyde Park, with a mature audience certainly as far as years on the planet go and a clear majority of die-hard Bob Mould fans over your casual Friday night gig-goers. Exactly what I expected at a sell-out concert put on by one of American alternative rock's true servants.
Mould is show-casing his latest long player, 'Beauty and Ruin', his 11th release since his first as a solo artist in 1989. This gig kicks off the uk leg of the tour, and what a way to commence with proceedings. Alongside his merry men, Jason Narducy on bass guitar and Jon Wurster on drums, Mould takes to the stage, grabs a guitar and with a 'no time to waste' approach launches into the Husker Du classic 'Flip your Wig' with a bang. And we have lift off.
What follows is a super-sonic paced guitar and drum fuelled twenty one song frenzied ear pummelling. Certainly, you would expect this of Mould, who appears to know his strengths and has stuck to them like glue during a 30-plus year career playing this genre of music. Together, the Mould trio rip through their set like there's no tomorrow and all their lives depend on it. Barely a murmur in between songs, other than to thank the crowd and acknowledge the year and a half since his previous visit, Mould chooses to churn out song after song with vigour, passion and speed. As a collective, they are tight, they are loud and they are fast. Warp speed fast.
With a back catalogue such as Mould's, he isn't short on songs to perform, although he keeps with the times in playing nine tracks from the current album release, including the punkier 'Kid with Crooked Face' and 'Little Glass Pill' as well as the slightly less energetic 'Nemeses are Laughing'. Together with another Husker Du gem, 'Something I Learned Today', there are a couple of tracks from the previous Bob Mould album 'Silver Age', and of course, a good sprinkling of Sugar (sorry....!) in the form of 'Hoover Dam' and 'If I Could Change Your Mind', all of which keep the crowd pumped throughout.
Mould's sound hasn't changed much during his 30-plus years in the music business, and it's likely that any novices would have been hard pushed to know which of tonight's set was new Mould and which was the Mould of old. This particular audience were clearly pleased with whatever was dished up, their mood mirroring that of the boys on stage - energetic to the end, and unwilling to pause for breathe other than briefly to take an odd picture of the band on their phones.
For the novice and die-hard fans alike, this was punked-up Alt Rock at its finest and no one was left disappointed. Team Mould will be back again, undoubtedly, probably with a similar safe-fast if not perhaps improved sound, and those of us who embrace this genre will gladly be there for another ear bashing.
FUTURE GIGS
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